Imperial Innovations Group Regulatory News (IVO)

27 Apr 2007 07:01

Imperial Innovations Group plc27 April 2007 27 April 2007 Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Imperial Innovations") Launch of London Development Agency Pre-Commercial Funding Programme Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO), the technology commercialisation andinvestment company, today announces that it has led and won a proposal on behalfof the Design Arts Science and Healthcare consortium (DASH) to establish a new£3.3 million Pre-Commercial Funding Programme, which includes £1.5 millionfunding from the London Development Agency. The DASH consortium comprises ofImperial Innovations, UCL Business PLC (the commercial company for UCL), RoyalCollege of Art, University of the Arts London, National Physics Laboratory, andHammersmith Hospitals and St. Mary's NHS Trusts. The aim of the programme is to provide funding for early stage projects,technologies and art and design driven business propositions, enabling theirdevelopment to a stage where they can be commercialised by either licensing theproject to industry or forming start-ups which will attract further privateinvestment. This new funding programme follows a first round of funding established in 2004which has enabled Imperial Innovations to invest in a total of 15 projects atImperial College London. Four of these projects have successfully progressedinto technology businesses; Midaz Lasers Limited, a company which developslasers for the industrial markets; Sensixa Limited, a leading producer ofminiaturised wireless pervasive sensing devices; PPU Soft Limited, a companypioneering applications of 'Pay Per Use Software', enabling software to beoffered as a service rather than hosted directly on clients' computers; and EvoElectric Limited, a producer of high performance electrical motor/generators foruse in gensets, powertrains, and as traction motors, in the hybrid and electricvehicle market. Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations, said: "Technology based start-up companies require more funding to get through earlycommercial development and for the last ten years there has been a major fundinggap at the pre commercial stage. This contribution by the London DevelopmentAgency is a positive step forward in addressing this issue and will provide agreat resource to help us support the innovative technologies in our portfoliothrough to full commercial development." A spokesperson at the London Development Agency said: "The London Development Agency has invested a total of £5.75 million in thissecond phase of pre-commercial stage funding. The investment is shared betweenfour London-based pre-commercial funds, including DASH, with the objective ofraising private sector investors' confidence in London's HEI technology transferoperations and attracting substantial follow-on funds from private sectorinvestors. Imperial Innovations and its DASH partners are providing a unique and impressiveportfolio of commercial opportunities and new technologies that will ensure thatthe fund will continue to mature and achieve significant innovation impact forLondon." -End- 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:CommunicationsPatrick d'Ancona / Harriet Totty +44 (0)20 7153 1590 London Development AgencyMaja Maricevic +44 (0)20 7593 8794 JP Morgan Cazenove 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 £26 million. The company's integrated approach encompassesthe identification of ideas, protection of intellectual property, developmentand licensing of technology and formation, incubation and investment intechnology businesses. A wide range of technologies are commercialised withinthe areas of healthcare, energy, environment and emerging technology trends. Based at Imperial College London, the company has established equity holdings in70 technology businesses and has completed 116 commercial agreements. ImperialInnovations also commercialises technologies originating from outside ImperialCollege through incubation contracts with the Carbon Trust and WRAP and hasrelationships with a number of multinational corporations including BAE Systems. Imperial Innovations has invested in a range of spin-out companies, includingThe Acrobot Company Limited, BioCeramic Therapeutics Limited, Cardiak Limited,Circassia Holdings Limited, deltaDOT Limited, Equinox Pharma Limited, FutureWaves PTE Limited, HeliSwirl Technologies Limited, InforSense Limited, LontraLimited, Midaz Lasers Limited, NanoBioDesign Limited, Nexeon Limited, NovaTheraLimited, Thiakis Limited and Veryan Medical Limited. Imperial Innovations currently holds shares in four technology businesses nowlisted on AIM including the fuel cell company, Ceres Power plc. www.imperialinnovations.co.uk About the London Development Agency The London Development Agency is the Mayor's agency for sustainable economicdevelopment. The LDA prepares the Mayor's business plan for London and mobilisesthe support and resources of hundreds of partner organisations to help build athriving economy for London's people, businesses and communities. The LDA isdedicated to improving sustainability, health and equality of opportunity forLondoners. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange