Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Allan Wilson will today announce an injection of £5m million of private sector cash aimed at fast-tracking cutting-edge University research from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Private equity outfit Braveheart Ventures is set to invest £5 million at both Glasgow and Edinburgh universities to help create profitable businesses from those University projects that have already benefited from Scottish Proof of Concept Programme funding.

The Proof of Concept Programme helps plug the gap between academic research and full commercialisation, and the Braveheart cash is set to take this assistance one stage further, supporting the creation of hi-tech, ingenious new companies.

In the last twelve months, Braveheart Ventures has invested more than £3-million in spin-outs, with one company, MicroEmissive Display Group, listed on AIM at £25-million. Braveheart has produced returns of 39 per cent pa on exited investments and 34 per cent pa across its whole portfolio over the past eight years.

Perth-based Braveheart CEO Geoffrey Thomson said: "Several promising Scottish companies have fallen by the wayside as a result of being unable to access private sector cash in the past.

"This funding is set to complement the innovative Proof of Concept Programme, and create more businesses able to compete with the best in the world. It builds on what we have achieved over the last two years with our SMART Equity Scheme"

The Proof of Concept Programme is an internationally acclaimed initiative spearheaded by Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Executive.

The Deputy Minister announced the investment from Braveheart at the launch of the latest £4.4 million round of Proof of Concept Programme funding to universities, research institutes and NHS Boards across Scotland. The Scottish Enterprise Board has also approved a further £6 million support package to the Programme for the coming years.

The University of Glasgow has had outstanding success in securing funding from the Proof of Concept programme. Since its inception in 1999, the University has been involved in 27 projects, receiving funding of around £5million.

Projects which have had funding from Proof of Concept include:
• An improved method of male fertility testing ﾖ researchers from Aerospace Engineering are working with clinicians from the University of Sheffield to provide a more reliable testing method.
• Ultrafast micro-chips for image and sensor applications ﾖ which build on the research group's success in creating the fastest transistor technology in Europe.
• Nano-polymer approach to improve the delivery of drug and therapeutic genes for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Products created with this approach will provide safer, more effective medicines.

Laura Smart (L.Smart@enterprise.gla.ac.uk)

First published: 6 June 2005