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Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation
Introduction
- A unique remit for delivering drug-development solutions to industry
- Incubation space helps to keep start-ups in the region
- Now an accredited Centre of Industrial Collaboration
Summary
Yorkshire Forward has partnered with the University of Bradford to co-fund the Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, a centre of excellence for bioscience research.
Bioscience is a priority sector for Yorkshire & Humber: strengths in the region include our academic research (of a standard to rival Oxbridge) and York as part of the Science City programme. Since potential for economic growth in this sector is considerable, Yorkshire Forward has formed a bioscience cluster team to track and promote the sector.
The bioscience cluster team had seen that while spin-out businesses frequently emerged from the region’s universities, they tended to leave the region because of a lack of suitable premises and business support.
Meanwhile, the University of Bradford had been developing a flagship project to exploit the strengths of its Pharmacy Department. The project would establish a centre for world-class computational modelling on drug development, delivery and management, significantly reducing the cost and time required to bring drugs to the market. It would include incubation space for drug-development start-ups, and become a centre of excellence for bioscience research. The goal was also to provide a link between academia and the private sector
To fund the project, the University of Bradford put up £1.5m and secured a further £2.5m from the Science Research Investment Fund. It then approached Yorkshire Forward for the £2m required to complete the development. Since there were clear synergies between the proposal and Yorkshire Forward’s commitments to bioscience and enterprise, we were delighted to be able to help.
The centre was completed in just 9 months. The Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation (IPI) soon hosted an international conference on pharmaceutical innovation and began marketing to attract early tenant start-ups and commercial ventures. It is now also an accredited Centre of Industrial Collaboration.
What is Yorkshire Forward’s connection with this initiative?
Yorkshire Forward provided £2m to complete the development and promotes the interests of the sector through our bioscience cluster team.
