Presentation at the Science City Summit - 8/9 Oct 2009 in Bath

1. 6th National Science Cities
Summit
8th October 2009
Assembly Rooms, Bath

2. National Science Cities Summit
Professor Neil T. Gorman, D.L.
Vice-Chancellor, Nottingham Trent University, and
Chair of Nottingham Science City
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3. The Importance of Science Cities
• The UK needs an economy with Science & Technology at its heart,
generating sustainable growth
• Science is the global language
• Variation in maturation of the science cities
• Variation in resourcing of science city activities
• Need to demonstrate impact of outputs
– Funding following impact?
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4. Impressive Research Profiles
• A rough analysis of RAE 2008 results
• Covering Units of Assessment 1 to 32 – from
Cardiovascular Medicine to Geography and Environmental
Studies - shows nearly:
• 5,000 Scientific Researchers in the UK’s 6 Science Cities
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5. Progress
Progress in the 6 Science Cities
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6. Birmingham
• Intelligent Zero-Emissions
Vehicle Demonstrator
• Collaborative project between
universities of Birmingham and
Coventry, Microcab, Tempus
Computers, BT and RDM
• Project has contributed to UK’s first
hydrogen filling station on the
Birmingham Campus, which has
attracted companies such as Nissan
to run trials
• Centre for Ocular Allergy
• Collaborative project between
universities of Aston and Worcester
• E.g. sustained release of drugs from
contact lenses
• Case study in Innovation Nation
White Paper, & Royal Society
Summer Science Exhibition 6

7. Bristol
• Fighting liver cancer
• A technique that uses microwaves to destroy liver tumours, based
on technology pioneered by scientists from Bath University, has
treated more than 100 patients in the UK and is now being used
worldwide
• The technology resulted from ongoing research at Bath University
into the use of microwaves in medical therapy, starting with
Microwave Enometrial Ablation, a treatment for women with
menorrhagia and menometrorrhagia
• This research has led to the development and production of a
microwave generator and probe to treat primary and secondary
cancers, which is now being manufactured by Acculis Ltd
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8. Bristol
• Venturefest South West - a series of events to bring together
money and ideas.
• A success for over 10 years. From the original series in Oxford, it
is now established in Yorkshire (with the support of Science City
York).
• Attracting investors and providing ongoing support.
• Meeting unmet needs – e.g. non-graduates/non-university staff/
companies not based in incubator units nor science parks.
• BioBlitz - a 30-hour race again the clock where scientists,
naturalists, students, members of public, schools and community
groups worked together to find and identify
wildlife in the Ashton Court Estate, Bristol.
• Creating a flagship project for International
Year of Biodiversity 2010.
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9. Manchester
• MIMIT (Manchester Integrating Medicine & Innovative Technology).
• The first and only international affiliate of the highly successful
Centre for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology
(CIMIT) programme in Boston USA.
• MIMIT is designed to give healthcare and medical device SMEs a
new way of working with clinicians, to identify specific ideas for
new products to improve patient care.
• MIMIT technologies are now attracting an impressive range of
leveraged resources including
– proof of concept funding,
– investment deals from business angels and Venture Capital,
– intellectual property licences, and
– £1.3m Science Bridges award from RCUK to
support further UK/USA collaboration.
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10. Newcastle
• Pilot project of the
Newcastle Innovation
Machine
• Insight-led
• A systematic way of
identifying unmet needs,
identifying solutions to
meet those needs, and
creating compelling
businesses, which can
then be financed to
become independent
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11. Nottingham
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12. Joint Research in Science Cities – E.g.
Nottingham Trent University and The University of Nottingham
Fighting Alzheimer’s
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13. Joint Research in Science Cities – E.g.
Nottingham Trent University and The University of Nottingham
Prostate Cancer & Predictive Markers of Cancer
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14. York
• Science City York has
– helped 120 businesses,
– created 54 businesses,
– safeguarded 680 jobs, and
– facilitated 181 learning opportunities.
• In the last 18 months, Science City York has led bids bringing
more than £3.7M investment to the City and region.
• Nearly a further £20M investment is on the way from the EU
• Science City York Phoenix Centre opened 2009 – now the base
for 12 young companies.
• Annual York Festival of Science and Technology
- audience of more than 15,000
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15. Lord Drayson Backs Science
• Ring-fenced science budget
• Maintaining investment in pure, fundamental science as
well as in applied science
• Maintaining a broad base
• Boosting the numbers of pupils taking triple science at
GCSE
• Sticking to the Haldane principle in setting our research
priorities i.e. researcher led rather than politician led
• Identifying where our competitive advantage lies and
playing to our strengths – medical research
4 February 2009 15

16. Key Priorities
• Promoting the key role of Science Cities
• Making the case for the funding of science in a period of
turmoil
– Recession and the impact on corporate R&D spend
– Change of government
• HE policy
• Science and research council policy
• Health research
– Future of the RDAs
– Wellcome Trust and other major charitable bodies
• The faces may change, but there must be no room for
policymakers to forget the importance of science.
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17. 6th National Science Cities
Summit
8th October 2009
Assembly Rooms, Bath