News

October 2007

Psi-ense will be working with Q-Futures Ltd (see www.qfutures.co.uk) to provide improved business development activities to the life sciences sector. Q Futures was founded by Dr Andrew Garman, former Director of Strategy Development at AstraZeneca and has specific strengths in drug discovery technologies and life sciences instrumentation.

August 2007August 2007

Psi-ense will be working with JRA Aerospace (www.jra-aero.com) to facilitate the European Space Agency's Technology Transfer Programme (ESA TTP) in the UK. This involves working with space research programmes in universities and research organisations to identify technology with potential for commercial development and to help in bringing key projects to market. The current project will run until July 2009

May 2007

As a founder member of the UK biochar initiative, Psi-ense attended the inaugural conference of the International Agrichar Initiative in Terrigal, New South Wales. The conference was well attended by delegates from around the world and included a field trip to the biochar plant run by BEST Energies near Terrigal. For full details see www.biochar-international.org

February 2007

Psi-ense is working with its partner company Psi-tran Ltd, on a research project to investigate the potential for RFID (radio frequency identification tags) technology in the healthcare and local government sectors. There have already been a number of small pilot projects in this area and Psi-tran's objective is to identify potential partners and optimum routes to market for future deployment.

January 2007

As part of a joint venture with Royal Holloway, University of London, Chris Budleigh visited Vietnam to identify potential commercialisation partners. The project, led by Simon Cutting , Professor of Molecular Science at RHUL, involves the development of a novel range of products for both human and marine applications and the visit included visits to microbiology facilities in Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang.

September 2006

Psi-ense organised the first customer workshop for ionscope at Imperial College's Faculty of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital. The presentations and practical demonstrations from the ionscope team, led by Professor Yuri Korchev, were well received and further workshops are planned for the near future.

ionscope have just received their first order for a scanning ion conductance microscope (SICM) from Shanghai University. Psi-ense has been providing ionscope with commercialisation resources since November 2005. Further information about SICM and ionscope can be found at www.ionscope.com

September 2006

Professor Ken Taylor, formerly Special Advisor on Industrial Collaborations at Surrey University, has raised €300,000 for his European Transformation Network project, which seeks to develop the innovation potential of science parks across Europe. The project will be a joint venture with Teknia Science Park in Kuopio, Finland. Psi-ense will provide resources to the project over the coming months.

August 2006

Psi-ense is working with Professor Andy Augousti at Kingston University's school of Life Sciences and Francis Hobbs from Kingston's Enterprise Exchange to explore the commercial potential of techniques for liquid analysis. This is a virtual company project, details of which can be found at www.kingston.ac.uk/virtualcompany

July 2006

Psi-ense will be administering the GRIST fund on behalf of the University of Surrey. GRIST ("Great ideas in science and technology") is a £1m seed fund, split between Surrey, Brighton and Kent Universities and aimed primarily at innovative graduates. For further information see www.gristmarketing.co.uk

June 2006

Psi-ense has been chosen to work with the European Space Agency's Technology Transfer Programme. This will involve identifying space research in UK Universities with the potential for terrestial commercialisation - see www.esa.int

The programme is co-ordinated in the UK by JRA Aerospace.

April 2006

Psi-ense will be working with the Surrey Enterprise Hub to provide a range of facilitation and support services to the Hubs portfolio of high growth companies. Surrey Enterprise Hub is funded by SEEDA and is one of 20 Hubs across south-east England. See www.surreyhub.co.uk

January 2006

Over the past six months, Psi-ense has been in discussions with a major pharmaceutical company on the development of technology for the measurement of processes in chemical, pharmaceutical and petrochemical plants. A new company, ChemiSense Limited, has been launched to develop and market the new range of instruments and Psi-ense's Chris Budleigh will be the CEO. ChemiSense is currently involved in proof-of-concept fundraising.

December 2005

Following a successful visit to Finland last February, Psi-ense is collaborating with Professor Ken Taylor to explore the potential for collaboration between Science Parks across Europe. Funding has been obtained for proof of concept work and it is expected that the project will move to the next stage later in 2006.

November 2005

Psi-ense has sign a marketing agreement with ionscope Limited (www.ionscope.com) a spinout from Imperial College. Ionscope have developed the ScanIC a groundbreaking development in nanobiotechnology. Psi-ense is providing sales and marketing resources to establish ionscope's presence in the UK. For full details of the ScanIC, please see www.ionscope.com

October 2005
Psi-ense has conducted a number of feasibility studies for the Universities of Surrey and Royal Holloway, covering a range of life sciences and IT projects. Follow up work is underway on a small number of projects seenm to have good commercialisation potential.

June 2005

Psi-ense is working with a FTSE 100 company in the turnaround of a spectroscopy instrument joint venture. Psi-ense is providing interim support to maintain the company’s trading position and is also involved in a refinancing package to relaunch the company’s production and R&D capabilities. The instrument company has developed an innovative range of tools for the analysis of chemical processes and is believed to have significant market potential.

April 2005

Psi-ense has recently been involved in a number of feasibility studies for West Focus, the technology transfer arm of a group of universities to the west of London including Brunel, Royal Holloway, Kingston and St Georges Medical School. The studies have assessed the commercial opportunities of a number of projects being explored by West Focus and will form part of the basis for future funding of those projects deemed to have most potential for success.

February 2005

Chris Budleigh, Managing Director of Psi-ense and Professor Ken Taylor, Special Advisor on Industrial Collaborations at Surrey University, visited Kuopio in Finland to explore links between science parks, academia and industry in Finland and the United Kingdom.

Discussions were held with Hannu Janhunen the Managing Director of Teknia Science Park which is a major hub of innovation in central Finland, particularly in the areas of biotechnology, agrobiotech and IT. Meetings were also held with the Rector of Kuopio University and the Director of Teknia’s incubation unit. Finland’s model for science parks emphasises the importance of links between universities, incubation facilities, SMEs and major corporates, and Professor Taylor strongly believes there is great potential for using the same approach across Europe.

Follow up activities are planned to explore opportunities for practical implementation of these ideas.

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