Commercialisation programme creates new projects

Twenty new projects with the potential to grow into Scotland’s technology companies of the future have been set up in just over two years with the help of a new commercialisation programme.

PROSPEKT, a joint partnership between the University of Edinburgh and Scottish Enterprise, was established in July 2006 to help commercialise research being carried out by the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics.

The £8 million PROSPEKT programme has helped stimulate those ideas into new businesses or to licence those ideas into existing Scottish-based growth businesses to increase productivity and improve performance.

This has included research being converted into nine enterprises being developed at the Edinburgh Pre-Incubator Scheme (EPIS), seven Proof of Concept programmes, two Enterprise Fellows and two being taken forward by ITI Scotland.

Colin Adams, Director of Commercialisation at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics, said: “We always knew that the research carried out at the University had enormous commercial applications for a range of industry sectors. In just over two years, we have been able to build on the University’s impressive track record and accelerate the commercialisation process, leading to 20 new projects which have real potential to grow into successful companies.

“The real value will come when these projects continue to grow over the coming years and hopefully lead to major new employment and investment opportunities for Scotland.”

David Caughey, Director of Industries, Commercialisation and Innovation at Scottish Enterprise added: “Scottish Enterprise has a major role to play in supporting the commercialisation of new research that will result in new spin out companies or commercial licences that will further grow Scotland’s economy.

“The PROSPEKT programme is an excellent example of bridging the gap between industry demands and the world class research, and is already showing promising results.”

The programme has also successfully secured an additional £3.7 million ERDF funding towards an enterprise creation programme ’Informatics Ventures’ over the next three years.  This involves Scottish Informatics and Computer Sciences Alliance (SICSA) Universities working with companies and entrepreneurs to commercialise informatics and computer science.

The University of Edinburgh's School of Informatics is considered one of Scotland's national assets and one of the top five locations in the world for computing science and information related research. Last year, its researchers moved to the Informatics Forum - a world-leading £42 million purpose built research facility.

Julia McLaren
Regional Communications Executive
Scottish Enterprise
Telephone: 01786 452022
Mobile: 07801 794046
Email: julia.mclaren@scotent.co.uk

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