Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
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£100 million fund to boost university and private collaboration – open for bids
A new £100 million investment fund to support research partnerships between universities, businesses, charities and philanthropic donors will open for bids on Monday, Universities and Science Minister David Willetts will announce today.
The Research Partnership Investment Fund will be open to UK
universities for investment in long-term capital projects that
leverage in significant private funding. Universities will be able
to bid for between £10 million and £35 million per project and
must be able to demonstrate that they can attract at least double
the amount in private investment. Applications will be judged on
value for money and how much they build on existing strong
research capability.
Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said:
“Collaboration between universities, charities and industry
is vital for our economy, and attracts significant private
investment in our world leading research base.
“The new £100 million Research Partnership Investment Fund
will bring together leading institutions and organisations. This
follows on from my invitation of bids on the 4 th January. It
will support excellent projects, which could include the purchase
of high cost equipment through to stimulating the development of a
new research campus. This will encourage innovation, drive growth
and create jobs.”
The fund will be managed by the Higher Education Funding
Council for England (HEFCE), working with its counterparts in the
devolved administrations. It will be a competitive two stage
process with an initial call for expressions of interest followed
by an invitation for those selected to work up more detailed
proposals. HEFCE is hoping to announce the successful bidders in
the autumn.
HEFCE has appointed an independent assessment panel to advise
the HEFCE Board on project selection. It will be chaired by Peter
Saraga, former Director of Philips Research Laboratories, former
HEFCE Board member and former Vice-President of the Royal Academy
of Engineering.
Notes to editors 1. The full details and criteria for the
Research Partnership Investment Fund can be found on the Higher
Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) website
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/
2. Budget 2012 announced “a new £100 million fund to support
investment in major new university research facilities.” The
capital funding for universities is intended to leverage
substantial private or charity (including endowment) co-investment
into significant long-term research partnerships. It is being
administered on a competitive basis by HEFCE, working in
collaboration with the Devolved HE funding bodies.
3. An independent evaluation of previous Government
investment in research capital has shown how successful this type
of funding can be in accelerating private sector investment in UK
university research infrastructure. For example, a £4.3 million
investment at Loughborough University led to a £60m investment by
BAE Systems and at Dundee University an £8m investment attracted
£23m from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Merck and Pfizer.
4. The Fund builds on the range of support and incentives for
university-business collaboration including:
· £150 million pa funding to English HEIs to support
engagement with business and others.
· Support for Catapult Centres, to bridge the gap between the
research base and business.
· £75 million SME support package (which includes £1 million
p.a. for a new Innovation Voucher programme to support
collaboration between SMEs and external knowledge providers).
· Establishment of the £180m Biomedical Catalyst Fund to
support the development of innovative life sciences products, from
universities through to development in business.
5. BIS's online newsroom contains the latest press
notices, speeches, as well as video and images for download. It
also features an up to date list of BIS press office contacts. See
http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom
for more information.
Contacts:
BIS Press Office
bispress.releases@bis.gsi.gov.uk
Emma Griffiths
Phone: 020 7215 5982
Emma.Griffiths@bis.gsi.gov.uk
