The government has allocated £52m in the latest funding round of an initiative aimed at building up the UK’s creative and science industries whilst boosting the number of entrepreneurs.
New trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling has announced new cash awards under the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), which he said will build closer ties between business and higher education and thus turn more ideas into enterprise.
Among the recipients are the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and Wolverhampton.
Leeds’ White Rose Health Innovation Partnership is attempting to develop methods, not yet tried in the UK, to stimulate innovation in healthcare by using American medical technologies.
Over the next decade, organisers predict that the project will lead to radical new treatments and technologies in the sectors of nanotechnology, biomedical materials and sensor technology that will focus on targeting prevention diagnosis.
The global health market is worth around £150 billion.
Sheffield, meanwhile, is developing a center to assist and strengthen manufacturers in the aerospace, defence and pharmaceutical industries, and Wolverhampton is launching a placement programme that hopes to create 750 new entrepreneurs.
University of Arts London will also receive financing through HEIF for its project to increase the competitive advantage of the UK’s creative companies in China and India.
The global market for creative industries was estimated at $1.3 trillion dollars last year.
“Innovation and science are the keys to UK economic growth,” Darling said. “Figures show that university spinouts floated on the stock market over the last two years were valued at more than £1bn.
“The HEIF brings together university research with private sector investment and stimulates a culture of entrepreneurship within Higher Education institutions.”
In addition, the HEIF will continue its funding for 22 Centres for Knowledge Exchange, which aim to demonstrate good practice in exchanging knowledge, practice and skills between HE and business and the community.