Release issued 17th July 2008

The Health Protection Agency announced today that it has been awarded a grant that will add to its capacity to deliver wider health benefits to the public and translate its skills and assets into practical benefits in partnership with industry whilst providing investment back into its technology base.

The grant of £544,000 from the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills’ (DIUS) Public Sector Research Exploitation (PSRE) fund will be used to build capacity within the HPA to identify, capture and exploit synergistic commercial services and new technology opportunities across the Agency’s three research centres, networks of regional laboratories and Health Protection Units.

In addition the Agency will be able to access funds from three other awards:

·         InterAct^PLUS – an award for £1.536M.

·         InterAct Proof of Concept Fund II – an award of £1.46M.

• Rainbow Seed Fund – an additional award of £1.5M.

Justin McCracken, Chief Executive of the Health Protection Agency, said: “Grants such as this allow us to build on and develop the research that we are undertaking across the whole Agency. We can then take the results of that research and, by working with other organisations and industry put them into practice, so that we can continuously develop the health protection we provide to the public.”

The HPA’s research and other services contribute directly to the management and prevention of disease in the UK. Its expertise also provides support to the government and local authorities in identifying and managing the health effects of major incidents such as the Buncefield fire, flooding and outbreaks of infectious disease.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

InterAct^PLUS – an award for £1.536M to extend the scope of the highly successful innovative knowledge transfer collaboration established between four major Government laboratory agencies (HPA, CSL, Dstl and VLA) under PSRE2. The expansion also includes two new agencies (HSL and Cefas). The Project will identify and pool expertise and IP from the partners with a view to finding new opportunities from combining IP assets across partners beyond the scope of individual partners alone.

InterAct Proof of Concept Fund II – an award of £1.46M to the InterAct^PLUS partners to expand the successful and now fully invested preliminary Proof of Concept fund established by InterAct under PSRE3. The expanded fund will make awards (averaging 30K) to support around 47 new projects over a three year period.

Rainbow Seed Fund – an additional award of £1.5M to the Fund to capture more opportunities by accelerating early stage and risk ventures through the early introduction of experienced venture management. Since establishment of the Fund in 2002 through PSRE 2, it has invested in a total of 15 spin-out companies and 22 early “pathfinder” deals, committing a total of £3.9m to date.

. For more information go to www.rainbowseedfund.com or contact Linda Baines on 01235 445000.

·         For further information contac Phil Luton on 01980 612725

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