Imperial Innovations Group Regulatory News (IVO)

5 Jun 2007 11:03

Imperial Innovations Group plc05 June 2007 5 June 2007 Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Imperial Innovations") PSE Finalist for MacRobert Award Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO), the technology commercialisation andinvestment company, announces that an Imperial Innovations spin-out company,Process Systems Enterprise (PSE), was today revealed to be one of the fourfinalists for the Royal Academy of Engineering's MacRobert Award. The award, theUK's most prestigious for engineering, recognises the successful development ofinnovative ideas in engineering. The winning company is honoured with a goldmedal and the winning team members receive a prize of £50,000. Process Systems Enterprise was selected for its innovative gPROMS(R) advancedprocess modelling software. gPROMS helps process industry companies to maximiseproduct quality, minimise production cost and control environmental impactthrough the use of high-accuracy predictive mathematical models of theirprocesses. It also enables them to innovate much faster, design more efficientprocesses, manage risk closely and integrate R&D and engineering disciplines. gPROMS has successfully entered the worldwide market, with 75% of PSE's revenuescoming from exports. The company's client base includes more than 60 of theworld's leading process industry companies, about 75% of which are Fortune 500organisations. gPROMS is also being used for teaching and research by more than200 universities worldwide. The company was formed in 1997 by Imperial Innovations and is based ontechnology arising from the research of Professor Costas Pantelides andcolleagues from the Centre for Process Systems Engineering at Imperial CollegeLondon. Prof. Costas Pantelides, MD of PSE, says "The process industry is going througha period of significant opportunities and challenges: unprecedented demand forproducts, increasing customer expectations of product performance, decreasingavailability of primary raw materials, and global concerns relating to energyconsumption, safety and environmental impact. We bring the means to make sounddecisions while minimising the risk inherent in innovation". Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations said, "Imperial Innovations isdelighted that PSE is being considered for the MacRobert awards. We recognisethe tremendous progress and future potential of PSE, and are working with thecompany closely to develop new geographical markets and sectors for its growth.In particular, we see that PSE has major potential in the environment sectorwhere companies are designing new product manufacturing methods with lowercarbon footprints and large metropolitan areas are developing moreenvironmentally sustainable urban systems. We are helping PSE find new channelpartners to accelerate its growth and realise its full potential." -Ends- 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 JP Morgan Cazenove +44 (0)20 7588 2828Steve Baldwin Notes to Editors About Imperial InnovationsImperial 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, IXICOLimited, Lontra Limited, Midaz Lasers Limited, NanoBioDesign Limited, NexeonLimited, NovaThera Limited, 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 Process Systems Enterprise Ltd PSE (www.psenterprise.com) is one of the world's foremost providers of AdvancedProcess Modelling software and Model-Based Innovation services to the processmanufacturing industries. These apply high-accuracy mathematical models ofprocess equipment and phenomena to provide high-quality information for decisionsupport in process innovation, design and operation. Use of PSE's technology and services results in faster innovation, improveddesigns of processes and products, enhancement of existing operations and moreeffective R&D and experimental programmes. Results are achieved with relativelylow investment compared to alternative approaches - where these exist - withrapid return on investment and transfer of modelling know-how to industry. PSE's global customer base of process manufacturing companies and theirtechnology suppliers is served by offices in the UK, USA, Germany and Japan, andagencies in China, India and Korea. About gPROMS gPROMS(R) is the world's leading Advanced Process Modelling (APM) environment.It is used to provide high-quality information for decision support ininnovation, design and operation across all sectors of the process industries,with particular focus on modelling of complex operations such as reaction,crystallisation and polymerisation. Companies apply gPROMS to reduce time-to-market for new processes or products,improve designs, enhance production, reduce capital and operating expenditureand comply more effectively with safety, health and environmental requirements. gPROMS is applied across the 'process lifecycle', from laboratoryexperimentation, through process and detailed design, to online operation, andis central to the emerging technology of Model-Based Innovation. PSE iscommitted to maintaining gPROMS at the leading edge of modelling technology. http://www.psenterprise.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange