Biotechnology incubator will be the first of its kind on a hospital site and will encourage academic institutions, the NHS and businesses to work more closely together
New technology is to be developed with the potential to save lives throughout the world following the approval of a specialist biotechnology incubator to be built at Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridgeshire.
"We are delighted to be working with East of England Development Agency (EEDA) and the commercial sector to develop this new project.
"The incubator will be the first of its kind on a hospital site and we see this as an exciting opportunity to develop new products and ideas that will ultimately benefit the NHS, its patients and the business world." said Stephen Bridge, chief executive, Papworth Hospital.
The incubator costing £2million is to be completed and have its first tenants by the summer of 2005 with the ambition to encourage academic institutions, the NHS and businesses to work more closely.
EEDA has provided £1.4m of funding with the remaining balance coming from Papworth Hospital. The incubator hopes to attract companies engaged in the development of new medical devices for the treatment of cardiovascular or respiratory diseases.
These companies will most likely be spin-offs from research previously carried out at the hospital and local universities or firms which would benefit from working on an NHS site.
Kate Phillips, head of sectors and innovation at EEDA, said: "Life sciences is a fundamentally important sector for our region and incubators such as the one to be built at Papworth will have benefits for everyone involved. "It is the health sector which defines the need for medical technology and biotechnology.
"Vital to the success of this project is the ability for NHS R and D staff to work with business, academics and medical device experts to produce new products.
"These new devices will then potentially be available to everyone throughout the NHS".
It is hoped that as companies grow and move on they maintain a link to the hospital to develop their products through the supply of tissue or clinical expertise.
Phillips continues: "The NHS is a massive organisation which employs a large number of people and therefore has a tremendous impact upon the country's economy.
"However if you are a small or medium sized company it can seem to be an impregnable market, for example in the East of England there are 67 Health Care Trusts, if you had a product to sell where would you begin? Initiatives like the Papworth Incubator will improve access and dialogue.
"At EEDA we want to help solve this perceived problem, by encouraging all sides to come together: entrepreneurs, the NHS, researchers and patients. If we get this right and the incubator becomes a centre of expertise and new products there will be a positive impact on life sciences.
"Ultimately it is the patients who will benefit most with better treatments, fewer side effects and less time spent in hospital - lives will not only be improved but in some cases extended and saved".
Work on the new unit will begin with specially constructed modular buildings being put in place during the spring of 2005.
The Incubator will provide a total space of 1200sq metres of commercial space to be broken down into units.
