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911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations Group plc has today announced to the stock exchange a fundraising worth £140 million which will boost support to inventions inspired by research at the College - News release

911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ News Release

For immediate release
Tuesday 7 December 2010

911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations Group plc, the company that commercialises technologies and discoveries from 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ, has today announced to the stock exchange a fundraising worth £140 million which will boost support to inventions inspired by research at the College.

Making 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations the UK’s largest company investing in university inventions, the funds will accelerate the number and size of investments that can be made to 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ spin-out companies, thus enabling them to achieve their commercial goals more quickly.

911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations is the first and only university-owned commercialisation company to be publicly listed. It supports academic staff at 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ with the translation of their ideas and discoveries for the commercial market through licensing or establishing new companies. Since April 2005 a technology pipeline agreement has been in place, giving 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations the right, subject to certain exceptions, to exploit and commercialise the College’s unencumbered intellectual property.

Rector of 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ, Sir Keith O’Nions, said:

“The College was founded in 1907 with the express goal of applying its research for the benefit of society. In recent years, 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations has played a fundamental role in enabling us to realise that vision and we are delighted that the company is going from strength to strength. With increased capacity to invest in companies, 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations will enable the College’s ideas and discoveries with the greatest potential to be fully supported and translated into products and services that can be used in industry, healthcare and in a wide range of other applications.”

“The success of Innovations demonstrates how public investment in research can reward its sponsors. It is a virtuous circle: 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations’ activities return funds back to the College which helps us to become increasingly self-sufficient as a university.”

The College’s holdings in Innovations are held by the College Fund, which is accountable to the College’s Council. The aim of the College Fund is to build a resilient endowment, giving 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ a long term sustainable basis to attract the brightest and the best staff and students in the world, for generations to come.

911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations also intends to invest in companies originating from other universities carrying out intensive scientific research.

Sir Keith said: “911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ welcomes the opportunity to work with colleagues at Oxford, Cambridge and UCL on technology commercialisation activities, which may lead to interesting joint ventures between us.”

Newly formed companies at 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ benefit from expertise and, where appropriate, investment from 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations. Since 2006, 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations has itself invested approximately £47.9 million in spin-out companies out of a total raised by those spin-out companies of £211 million. As at 31 July 2010, 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations had equity holdings in 79 spin-out companies and in the previous year had disclosed 344 inventions and filed 48 patents resulting from 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ research.

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For further information please contact:

911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ

Simon Watts
Media Relations and Communications Manager
911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ
e-mail: s.watts@imperial.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)207 594 6701 or ext. 46701
Out of hours duty Press Officer: +44 (0)78 03 886 248

911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations

Adrian Duffield/Carl Franklin/Kay Larsen
College Hill
Telephone: +44 (0)207 7457 2020

Notes to editors:

About 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ Innovations Group plc

Innovations creates, builds and invests in pioneering technologies addressing global problems in healthcare, energy and engineering. It combines deep understanding of science and technology with commercial acumen and strong investment expertise. Innovations supports scientist-entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of their ideas by:

• leading the formation of new companies and providing facilities in the early stages
• providing significant investment and encouraging co-investment to accelerate the transition from R&D to products
• providing operational expertise
• helping to recruit high-calibre industry figures and experienced entrepreneurs as executive management and Board members.

Innovations has exclusive access to scientific and technological developments coming out of 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ, one of the world's leading research institutions. It has already achieved significant success with its early investments; for example its £1.5m investment in obesity drug developer Thiakis could return £16.1m plus a royalty stream on product sales if the product is launched, following its sale to Wyeth for £99.4m in 2008, while the sale of Respivert, a small molecule drug discovery company resulted in Innovations realising £9.5m, a 4.7x return on investment.

In the year to July 2010, Innovations invested £14m in 20 ventures, helping to launch three new companies.

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About 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ

Consistently rated amongst the world's best universities, 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 14,000 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.

Since its foundation in 1907, 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ's contributions to society have included the discovery of penicillin, the development of holography and the foundations of fibre optics. This commitment to the application of research for the benefit of all continues today, with current focuses including interdisciplinary collaborations to improve global health, tackle climate change, develop sustainable sources of energy and address security challenges.

In 2007, 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ and 911½ñÈÕºÚÁÏ College Healthcare NHS Trust formed the UK's first Academic Health Science Centre. This unique partnership aims to improve the quality of life of patients and populations by taking new discoveries and translating them into new therapies as quickly as possible.

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