The Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation

Thursday 5th November, 2009 Bradford UK-China Science Bridges team have secured additional funding of £700K

Built upon the successful bid of £1.3m from EPSRC early this year and through a successful negotiation led by Paul Thorning (Director of IPI) and Dr. Qun Shao (Programme Manager of Science Bridges Programme), Bradford UK-China Science Bridges team has recently secured additional RMB 8m (equivalent to £700k) from a Chinese local government (Changzhou) in support of open innovation projects with the University of Bradford.

The municipal Government in Changzhou have formally committed to the principles of open innovation, sharing of intellectual property generated and providing direct support to commercialisation. Under the terms of the agreement (signed between Changzhou, the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica and University of Bradford) a joint panel will be convened early in 2010 to review proof of concept applications submitted by collaborating academics, clinicians and companies across UK and China. Successful projects (in the area of translational research in healthcare) will receive up to RMB 2m (equivalent to £175k) over 2 years. It is anticipated that project applications will arise from both a Pharmaceutical Development/Formulation open innovation workshop to be held in Changzhou in December, and from broader collaborations in healthcare research between Bradford academics with UK and Chinese counterparts.