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Yorkshire universities are an advanced source
of innovation and investment opportunities
Yorkshire Forward is helping to bring more commercially Changes to the structure of drug compounds are often
viable research and ideas out of laboratories and classrooms caused by undetected fluctuations in the production process,
and into the market place with a £6 million Proof of potentially affecting the drugs’ physical attributes and
Commercial Concept Fund (PCCF) in partnership with performance. This new technique monitors crystals as they
Yorkshire universities. The Fund provides grants ranging form to ensure the correct compound is produced.
from £30,000 to £70,000 to help academic researchers, staff Dr Robert Hammond of the university’s Faculty of
and students to get ideas off the ground. The PCCF will help Engineering, who leads the research team, says: “There’s
to build relationships between higher education institutions enormous commercial potential for this technology, for
and industry partners, particularly follow-on-funders looking example it could be developed to work at manufacturing
for investment or licensing opportunities. plant scales and can be applied to speciality chemical
The region’s universities provide access to world- industries as well. We’re interested in talking to
leading expertise, technical support and the latest pharmaceutical and speciality chemical companies
facilities – invaluable to companies looking to advance their that are keen to work with us to drive this forward.”
products and processes or source pioneering investment The bespoke system has been developed by engineers
opportunities. at the university of Leeds in collaboration with Bede X-Ray
One recent example can be found at the university of Metrology as part of the EPSRC funded Chemicals Behaving
Leeds where a newly developed technique could save drug Badly programme.
companies millions. This is just one of many new technological advances
The technique is a potentially invaluable tool in drug coming out of the region’s universities, which can help to
manufacture, where monitoring crystal formation is crucial boost business activity, save time and money and generate
to cost, product safety and protecting patents. sustainable competitive advantage.
inform september 2008 page 12
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