Bringing you the latest Business News updates from the science industry


by Heather Hobbs Home Secretary Drops in on Scientifica


Scientifica was delighted to welcome Rt Hon Theresa May, Home Secretary and MP for Maidenhead, to its Maidenhead manufacturing facility during November. Mrs May visited the company, which this year secured a Queen's Award for Enterprise International Trade, to celebrate its recent achievements and find out more about Scientifica's plans for the future.


The company specialises in the manufacture and distribution of equipment for electrophysiology researchers, sell into into more than 30 countries and has 17 international distributors. The Company has grown its sales by at least 20% a year for the last six years.


"The interesting fact about Maidenhead is that there are a lot of small companies doing great things globally - people driving past a company like this won't know that you're exporting 80% of your products," said Mrs May MP. "Scientifica is a good example of quality of innovation, work and customer service. Maidenhead is proud of having you here and


you should be proud too. Congratulations on your award."


Mark Johnson, Managing Director of Scientifica, thanked Mrs May for visiting the company, acknowledging that she is busy but still finds the time to be active in the Maidenhead community.


He added: "Our success it down to the team and it's up to us where we take ourselves in the future. We should all be proud of what we have achieved over the years. We make our own luck and awards like this one are the reward for our hard work."


Excited by the company’s launch into the Multiphoton imaging systems market, he added:


Image from left to right: Peter Knights, Engineering Manager, Scientifica; Rt Hon Theresa May, MP; and Mark Johnson, Managing Director, Scientifica


"Our core market is still electrophysiology and we are a strong player. We collaborate with key partners and are looking at EU projects, as well as working with universities in Milan, Paris and US."


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BioCity Scotland, the centre for life science businesses in Newhouse, Lanarkshire celebrated its first anniversary (January 5) since the site was officially handed to the new company by global pharmaceutical company MSD, for the creation of a bioscience business incubator. Since the official opening, BioCity Scotland has attracted


eleven start-up


tenants, university spin-outs and well-established bioscience companies. Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Life Science Association (SLA), the Life Sciences Advisory Board (LiSAB), Health Science Scotland, Medilink and ABHI have also been involved in the regular use international tours, meetings and training.


of BioCity for


One of the earliest companies on site was stem cell services company Pharmacells, whose work is being applied to tackling diseases such as osteo-arthritis, cosmetic anti-aging, diabetes, and soft tissue and cartilage repair and renewal. Pharmacells™ Chief Executive Athol Haas says: “We were delighted to be able to relocate our stem cell banking service to the fantastic facilities provided by Biocity at Newhouse. Access to


Outstanding First Year of Operation for BioCity Scotland ODI Opens for Business


these world class facilities has allowed Pharmacells™ to develop our Oristem®


regenerative medicine.”


Full service commercial law firm McClure Naismith LLP joined as BioCity Scotland Corporate Partners in April. Corporate partner status enables companies such as McClure to offer specialist advice to all BioCity companies through clinics, workshops, seminars and presentations.


They also get involved in regular BioCity corporate


events, such as the BioEntrepreneur Boot Camp. David Gallagher, Associate with a particular interest in intellectual property says: “Partnering with BioCity Scotland has been a great opportunity for us over the last 12 months to meet, network and discuss legal issues with companies who are at the cutting edge of the sector in Scotland. Events, including the Boot Camp, have allowed individuals and companies to showcase the best that Scotland has to offer in this area and we are proud to support these growing businesses”.


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Specac launches Quest ATR at Royal Society of Chemistry in London


Specac’s recently launched its Quest ATR at The Royal Society of Chemistry in Piccadilly, London, where attendees saw demonstrations of the new accessory in infrared spectrometers kindly provided by Thermo (iS5), Perkin Elmer (Spectrum 2) and Shimadzu (IRAffinity). David Smith, MD of Specac, who made a presentation at the event says, “We are most grateful to have the opportunity to demonstrate our new ATR product at such an august venue to many of the key players in the IR spectroscopy market. We believe that Quest represents the most significant innovation in the ATR market in the last ten years because it maintains Specac’s reputation for excellence in specification and workmanship while delivering outstanding value. Our intention is that Quest becomes the industry standard worldwide for routine laboratory analysis using the reflectance method.”


Quest ATR launch at the Royal Society of Chemistry


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Swansea University Awarded Funding to Progress Ideas and Business


Swansea University has welcomed the news that it will receive over half a million pounds from the UK government to take forward its innovative research, collaboration and entrepreneurship programme.


The funding, which comes from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAA), was announced by Business Secretary Vince Cable during Global Entrepreneurship Week held in November.


The total £60 million investment in UK universities helps pioneering scientists and engineers create successful businesses from their research, improve industrial collaboration, and foster greater entrepreneurship. The awards have been allocated to 31 leading universities across the UK, with Swansea University being one of only two universities from Wales awarded funding.


The £637,927 award will enable the University to prioritise research


areas in Materials Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction (Techealth) and the Centre for Nanohealth which encompasses projects across Engineering, Science and Medicine. In addition funds will be made available from the award to support a central resource, which will administer and monitor the account and co- ordinate a range of activities, events and initiatives aligned to the University’s EPSRC portfolio.


Welcoming the announcement Professor Ian Cluckie, Pro-Vice- Chancellor for Research said: “The funding will support our scientists and engineers to help them develop projects in greater collaboration with industry, bridge the gap between the lab and the marketplace and bring research ideas to a stage where a company or venture capitalist might be interested. It will also help us to fund secondments from and into industry to broaden engagement with industrial research partners improving knowledge and skills."


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The Open Data Institute (ODI) opened for business in December, underlining the UK’s position as a world leader in the field. The Technology Strategy Board is a key funder of the new institute providing £2 million per year over the next five years.


The brainchild of inventor of the worldwide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt of the University of Southampton, the ODI has already announced its first major investor, the Omidyar Network, who will provide $750,000 over two years to help release the benefits of open data.


Research from Deloitte has found that while the UK does not have the same quantity of data as government open data sites in countries such as the US and France, in the period studied by Deloitte UK’s data.gov.uk received more daily visits than either data.gov or data.gouv.fr.


The ODI’s Chief Executive Gavin Starks said: “Open data holds huge, largely untapped potential to change the way we function as a society. The ODI will enable organisations and individuals to find and exploit new markets and business opportunities; explore and understand social and cultural trends and experiment with ways of explaining this evolving ecosystem.”


Iain Gray, CEO of the Technology Strategy Board said: “The Open Data Institute provides a focus for anyone with an interest in sharing and exploiting open data and a place for them to network and access the expertise that will help them to accelerate the development of new technologies and approaches and to promote the opportunities that open data provides across a range of sectors.”


Four start-up businesses are already working in the ODI’s head office in London: Mastodon C, Placr, Locatable and Open Corporates. Mastodon C has already used open data to identify millions of pounds in potential savings that could be realised by changing prescribing practices in the NHS.


Shortly after its opening the ODI also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Bank to help collect evidence globally on the benefits of open data and to train senior people to lead open data initiatives in developing countries.


For more information about the Open Data Institute visit: www.theodi.org/


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