Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office
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Bangalore-Cambridge Biotech Innovation contest
Are you innovative enough and ready to take a dive in Cambridge? Participate to win by 30 October 2013.
The contest
Are you innovative enough and ready to take a dive in Cambridge? We’re looking for Bangalore’s most innovative biotech or medtech company, who are looking to expand their business internationally. We’re also looking for an academic with Bangalore’s best biotech business or medtech idea! If this sounds like you, then read on… The winner in each category will get an opportunity to explore Cambridge and discover why it is one of world’s most vibrant innovation hubs.
The prize
The two contest winners will get:
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A fact finding mission to Cambridge – including economy flights, accommodation and a bespoke programme to start your UK discovery in Cambridge in early 2014.
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The chance to experience Cambridge and its Phenomenon. Meet & network with world-class researchers, investors, incubators and partner companies.
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Briefing to understand what’s involved, and the support available, to start your business in Cambridge or find partners there.
Background
This contest is being run by the UK Science & Innovation Network, in association with Accelerator India, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms in Bangalore and IdeaSpace in Cambridge, as part of the Bangalore – Cambridge Innovation Network.
Why should a Bangalore-based innovator apply for this contest? The UK was ranked 3rd in the 2013 Global Innovation Index and has the most efficient research base in the G8 in terms of citations per unit of R&D spend. The UK also has a 10% rate of corporation tax on qualifying patents through the patent box and R&D tax credits worth 25p in every £1 for SMEs. And the UK is investing in innovation, and biotechnology in particular – from the £300m in the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund to a £180m investment in a Biomedical Catalyst Fund. All this adds up to mean the UK is a leading innovation nation and an ideal place to start or expand an innovative business, or find an innovation partner.
And nowhere is this more true than in Cambridge, home to one of the world’s best universities, where an incredible explosion of technology, life sciences and service companies has occurred since the 1960s – an explosion now known as the Cambridge Phenomenon. Cambridge is now home to more than 1000 technology and biotechnology companies, as well as a comprehensive ecosystem of support for innovation.
Entry criteria
The applicant must be:
- Be a Bangalore based company or researcher from a Bangalore based Institute.
- Be the founder or originator of the unique idea
- Have a ready proof of concept
- Have a clear idea of the market opportunity or competitors in that space
- Have an ambition to take a leap into new business opportunities with Cambridge
How to apply
Applicants should complete a short application form on why they should be selected as the winner and send it to scienceandinnovation.india@fco.gov.uk by 30th October 2013.
