Anglia Innovation Partnership, the campus management organisation for Norwich Research Park, has announced the launch of its new ‘BioTransitions’ programme that will initially focus on supporting ‘Seed-to-Series A’ companies operating in the agri-food biotech sector.
Bayer, a global leader in health and nutrition, will be supporting the programme with a three-year sponsorship.
As well as supporting companies already based at Norwich Research Park, the programme will aim to attract agri-food biotech companies from elsewhere in the world who will benefit from the specialist skills pool and technology platforms available on the Park’s campus, and the bespoke programme of support and network of connections on offer.
The ‘BioTransitions’ programme will help companies with their investment strategies, intellectual property (IP) and patent applications, field trials, access to advanced technology platforms, marketing strategy, network of contacts in academia and industry, plus access to the expertise of the sponsors of the programme, including Bayer.
The term ‘BioTransitions’ refers to the use of biology to help the planet move away from its reliance on petrochemicals. Thanks to the extensive research carried out in this discipline across its campus, Norwich Research Park has a unique capability to deliver multiple potential solutions.
Roz Bird, CEO of Anglia Innovation Partnership, said, “Following on from the success of our on-campus incubation programme for start-ups, we are delighted to launch this new ‘BioTransitions’ programme with the support of Bayer as the first sponsor.
“The connection with Bayer and St Louis is part of the work we are doing to develop the role of the campus in the global agri-food market. Much like Norwich Research Park, St Louis is a global hot spot for agri-food biotech research and commercialisation activity so we are looking at opportunities to work ‘ecosystem-to-ecosystem’, pooling our collective strengths and considering new opportunities for collaboration to help solve some of the world’s major challenges in agriculture and climate change.”
Dr Florian Jupe, Strategic Partnerships Lead Biologics at Bayer’s Crop Science division, said, “At Bayer, we are dedicated to fostering external partnerships and embracing open innovation as key drivers to transform the agricultural landscape. We have known about the potential at Norwich Research Park for some time, bolstered by numerous valuable collaborations over the
years with partners at the campus. We are excited to now advance together current early-stage businesses and help them step up to the next level in their journey to commercialisation and ultimately their future success in agriculture and food security.”
Dr Phil Taylor, Director of Ecosystem Development at Bayer’s Crop Science division, said, “We are delighted to announce our involvement as a sponsor of the ‘BioTransitions’ programme and to reinforce the collaborative work that can develop between our cities’ clusters over the next few years. These programmes matter as they combine leading research and development capabilities with in-depth knowledge and ingenuity from experts to accelerate the delivery of agricultural innovation to farmers. We look forward to creating an environment to support early-stage companies to scale and grow their future solutions for impact.”
The ‘BioTransitions’ programme will be run by a sister company of Anglia Innovation Partnership, reporting to the Anglia Innovation Partnership Board, and is looking for up to four other sponsors to enable its delivery by a small team of experts.
Any company interested in finding out more information should contact nick.goodwin@nrp.dev.assemblystudios.co.uk.
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