Scottish Enterprise’s Proof Of Concept Programme recognised as pan-European leader
This announcement cements the findings of Universities Scotland recent independent research which found that Scotland has outperformed the rest of the UK in quality of research. Scotland now produces half as much again of the UK’s world-class research than its population share.
The ACES awards ceremony culminated with the announcement of The Bridge Award, for an individual who has done the most to promote policies for entrepreneurship in university or public research institutions. Three outstanding individuals shared the prize. These are Eleanor Taylor, head of Scottish Enterprise’s Proof of Concept Programme, Tom Hockaday from Isis Innovation, University of Oxford, Hans Wigzell from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
The prizes awarded by the Science|Business Innovation Board, a blue-ribbon panel of leaders in industry, academia and policy at a ceremony at Sweden’s Royal Academy of Engineering, go to companies tackling major issues of health, the environment and security and leaders of technology transfer.
Eleanor Taylor comments, “I have been privileged to have led the development of the Proof of Concept Programme since its creation in 1999. This award recognises the strong partnership working that has been established between our academic and investment communities. This has been the bedrock behind Scotland’s outstanding success in this area.”
Jim Mather, Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, says, “This is a tremendous honour, for Eleanor and her team, for the Proof of Concept Programme and for Scotland. Proof of Concept continues to demonstrate the excellence of Scotland’s science base and our determination to transform that world-class knowledge into successful new products that create wealth and jobs.”
Jack Perry, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, says, “The Proof of Concept Programme has been emulated by many countries because it really works. This prestigious award is public recognition of the impact Eleanor and her team make in turning great Scottish invention into wealth creation.”
Through the Proof of Concept Programme technologies have been developed resulting in companies such as Lumicure, Brinker and Biopta spinning out from Scottish universities.
Since the Programme started in 1999, almost 900 applications have been received with £41 million of support given to 217 groundbreaking projects. These have resulted in 42 new spin-out companies and 44 licencing deals, creating over 500 jobs, and leveraging over £235 million of public and private investment which would not otherwise have happened in Scotland.
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Find more information on the awards and the finalists on the Science|Business website.
About the ACES Programme
The ACES programme began in discussions at ESADE Business School in Barcelona and University College London and was launched in June 2008 at INSEAD, the international business school in Fontainebleau, France, and is supported by a further 24 outstanding European academic institutions. The programme is sponsored by Microsoft Corp., Procter & Gamble, Vinnova, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical R&D, CEFIC, IVA–Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering, the Wellcome Trust and WilmerHale. Media partners were MIT Technology Review, the Wall Street Journal Europe and ScanBalt.
About Science|Business
Science|Business is the first independent news service that brings together buyers and sellers of emerging technologies - through its online news coverage, its subscriber-posting service, and its exclusive networking events.
It does so with a top-quality news team, and a unique network of Europe's leading scientific institutions. They include the University of Cambridge, ETH-Zurich, Karolinska Institutet, and Imperial College London. Our editorial team is drawn from the world's top science and business publications. It is led by Richard L. Hudson and Peter Wrobel, former managing editors at the Wall Street Journal Europe and the leading science journal Nature. A global network of leading business and science journalists joins them to provide the smartest, and most international, perspectives on the commercialisation of science. They are advised by some of Europe's leading academic and business figures. And they are determined to break the mould in science journalism - to bring business intelligence and multi-disciplinary insight to the very earliest stages of R&D.
About the Proof of Concept Programme
The Proof of Concept Programme supports the pre-commercialisation of leading-edge technologies emerging from Scotland's universities, research institutes and NHS Boards. It helps researchers to export their ideas and inventions from the lab to the global marketplace.
Projects can be typically defined as occurring after advances made during curiosity-driven or strategic research. This is usually after a background patent has been filed, but before the following a full scale demonstration, pre-production development or prototyping or commercial funds for development have been made available.
It is not simply another source of research funding. Successful applicants must demonstrate that their ideas have originality and true commercial potential. Ideas should have the potential to form the basis of either a new high growth business or a license to an existing company.
The Proof of Concept Programme is fully committed to exploiting research advances and encouraging Scottish innovation. This commitment is demonstrated by the projects supported by the programme, which are high risk and may take several years to become commercially attractive to private investors.
The Programme has £79 million to award and is developed and operated by Scottish Enterprise in partnership with key stakeholders including: Scottish Government, Universities Scotland and Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. It is partly funded by the European Union.