RESEARCH NEWS
Hauser Forum opens for business A new complex will provide a focus for industry–academic collaboration and research commercialisation. PHILIP MyNoTT
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Dr Hermann Hauser and Dr Pamela Raspe at the opening of the Hauser Forum
A prestigious new development comprising the Entrepreneurship Centre, Broers Building and Cafe Atrium was opened by the Chancellor, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, on 20 April at the West Cambridge Site. The Hauser Forum was funded by an £8 million gift from the Hauser-Raspe Foundation, with £2 million additional funding from the East of England Development Agency. The state-of-the-art enterprise hub has been designed to stimulate innovative collaboration between clusters of academics, start-up businesses and established industries. Cambridge Enterprise has relocated its offices to the Entrepreneurship Centre at the Hauser Forum, as has IdeaSpace,
which links entrepreneurial activities within the University and throughout the region. The Broers Building, named in honour of the former Vice-Chancellor Lord Broers, is a pioneering development by Turnstone Estates and the University in which SMEs and international companies can lease space to work in closer partnership with researchers and commercialisation activities. The first tenants to take up leases are Nokia Research Centre, which develops nanotechnologies for mobile communication and ambient intelligence, and Base4 Innovation, a spin-out company from the Cavendish Laboratory that develops detection platforms for healthcare and the life sciences.
An enterprising year Cambridge Enterprise’s figures for 2008/09 show growth in licensing, consultancy and equity transactions. The 2008/09 Annual Review marks two financial years for Cambridge Enterprise Ltd operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of the University. During this period, 400 new knowledge and technology transfer transactions were completed, bringing the portfolio to over 700 active licence, consultancy and equity agreements under management. Cambridge Enterprise holds equity in 72 companies on behalf of the University, many of which will have far-reaching impact on society. During this two-year period, income exceeded £18 million, of which about £14 million was distributed to University academics and departments to encourage engagement in innovation. The remainder has been reinvested in
patent assets and in supporting knowledge and technology transfer services to the University. ‘Long-term support of fundamental research plays a significant role in creating ideas that will have a positive societal impact,’ said Chief Executive Teri Willey. ‘We are committed to finding the best partners to assist in the commercialisation of research emerging from the University’s departments.’ For more information about Cambridge Enterprise, and to download the Annual Review for 2008/09, please visit www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk/
Funding to boost scientific links with Japan Researchers in Cambridge and Japan will be working together towards a more integrated understanding of how stem cells make decisions. Professor Austin Smith, Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research, has received a Japan Partnering Award from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). This scheme provides funding for BBSRC-supported researchers to build and foster long-term collaborations with Japanese partners. The award will enable Professor Smith and colleagues in Cambridge to collaborate closely with Dr Hitoshi Niwa and other researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan. The project also involves Dr Paul Bertone, a biocomputational expert at the European Bioinformatics Institute near Cambridge, and Dr Kathryn Lilley, Director of the Cambridge Centre for Proteomics (see page 23). The collaborative effort is tackling an emerging area of research: the systems biology of stem cells. Systems biology integrates complex information about whole biological systems to understand how they function. Like stem cell biology, it has been a fast-growing research field over the past decade. ‘only recently has it been realistic to start bridging the two approaches in order to answer questions about the behaviour and decision-making pathways of stem cells,’ explained Professor Smith. ‘It’s an exciting but challenging area, and it makes very good sense for researchers in Cambridge and Japan to share complementary experience, tools and resources.’ Commenting on the awards, which have been made to four research groups in the UK, Professor Douglas Kell, BBSRC Chief Executive, said: ‘Modern bioscience demands international collaboration. By working together across international borders we can generate faster progress and higher quality science than we can alone.’ For more information, please contact Professor Austin Smith (austin.smith@ cscr.cam.ac.uk). Professor Smith was recently awarded the prestigious 2010 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine for his contributions to stem cell research.
Issue 12 | Summer 2010 | 5