Imperial Innovations Group Regulatory News (IVO)

21 Jan 2008 12:26

Imperial Innovations Group plc21 January 2008 Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Imperial Innovations") i2india signs Statement of Intent with the Confederation of Indian Industry Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO) is pleased to note the following pressrelease made today by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) concerning anagreement reached with i2india, a company in which Imperial Innovations holds a35% stake. CII Inks pacts on Skills & Innovation during UK PM's Visit (New Delhi, 21 January 2008) The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) hassigned two pacts with UKSkills and i2india Holdings, focussing on skills andinnovation, respectively, on the occasion of the visit of Rt Hon Gordon BrownMP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to India, on Sunday, 20 January 2008.The signings took place in the presence of UK Secretary of State for Business,Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the Rt Hon John Hutton MP, Indian Minister ofCommerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath and the President of CII, Mr Sunil BhartiMittal. CII and i2india Holdings have signed a Statement of Intent with a view to tapand drive innovation in India, for both industrial and social development. Thesignatories were Mr Malivinder Mohan Singh, Chairman, CII Technology Committee &CEO & Managing Director, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd and Mr Chris Mathias,Chairman, i2india, on behalf of the respective organisations. As part of the partnership with CII, i2india will offer services to Indianindustry that will lead to enhancing the awareness of innovation andIntellectual Property (IP) in India; and support the identification of marketopportunities for IP and technologies from India into the international marketsand vice versa. i2india is a technology commercialisation and investment company focused oncreating commercial value from intellectual property developed in India. It isthe Indian arm of UK's Imperial Innovations Group plc, a company based out ofImperial College London and listed on London Stock Exchange's AIM. ImperialInnovations is one of the leaders in the UK in the field of technology transferand commercialisation through the structuring of licensing deals and thetransfer of intellectual property into newly formed companies. On the occasion of the signing, Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh said "CII's futuristicfocus, leadership and its pioneering initiatives in technology, industrial R&D,Innovation and IPR have been instrumental in Indian Industry's technology drivengrowth in the recent years. This partnership with i2india will furtherstrengthen this growth process in the days to come." The other signing was an MoU between UKSkills and WorldSkills India, anorganisation managed by CII. The signatories were Mr Simon Bartley, ChiefExecutive, UKSkills and Lt Gen (Retd) S S Mehta, Director General, CII. Lt Gen (Retd) S S Mehta stated that, "The Indian demographic advantage can bestbe epitomised by skilling our workforce across all sectors and at all levels.Association with WorldSkills and UKSkills is CII's initiative to achieve ourgoal to make India the Skill Capital of the World." The MoU will also helpcreate a support structure for the development of a National Skills Team andtheir participation in WorldSkills International, and other competitions.WorldSkills International is the biggest skills competition in the world thatsets 'world standards' in over 45 skill categories ranging from cabinet makingto web design. In January 2007, India had become the 48th member of WorldSkills Internationalwith CII as the member organization representing India in all WorldSkillsactivities. The main objectives of "WorldSkills India" are to promulgate skillsin the society, champion skills and learning for work through local, regional,national and international skills competition and also host internationalcompetitions, and link up with the WorldSkills International secretariat, theGovernment of India, State Governments, the registered vocational skillstraining and awarding bodies. For more information contact: Imperial InnovationsSusan Searle, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)20 7594 6591Lucy Ahfong, Marketing Communications Executive +44 (0)20 7594 6644 M:CommunicationsHarriet Totty / Eleanor Williamson +44 (0)20 7153 1539 JPMorgan Cazenove (NOMAD to Imperial Innovations)Steve Baldwin +44(0)20 7588 2828 Notes to Editors About Imperial Innovations Imperial Innovations is one of the UK's leading technology transfer andcommercialisation companies. The company was founded in 1986 and its ordinaryshares admitted to trading on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange plc inJuly 2006, raising £25 million at an offer price of 365p and £1 million by meansof a public offer. In November 2007, the company raised a further £30 million bymeans of a placing of new ordinary shares with investors. The company's integrated approach encompasses the identification of ideas,protection of intellectual property, development and licensing of technology andformation, incubation and investment in technology businesses. A wide range oftechnologies are commercialised within the areas of healthcare, energy,environment and emerging technology trends. Based at Imperial College London, the company has established equity holdings in74 technology businesses and is managing 133 commercial agreements as of 31 July2007. Imperial Innovations also commercialises technologies originating fromoutside Imperial College through incubation contracts with the Carbon Trust andWRAP and has commercialisation contracts with a number of multinationalcorporations including BAE Systems. www.imperialinnovations.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange