Singapore - British - US collaboration on technology commercialisation signed

Jointly issued by Imperial College London and Imperial College Innovations of the United Kingdom, Columbia University and Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd of Singapore

Embargoed till
2.30pm, Singapore Time, February 11, 2003
6.30am, United Kingdom Time, February 11, 2003
1.30am, US EST, February 11, 2003

Exploit Technologies, Imperial College London and Columbia University engage into close partnership with promising potentials

A partnership to foster closer collaboration on technology commercialization has been signed today between Imperial College London, UK, Columbia University Science & Technology Ventures, USA, and Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd of Singapore. This tripartite partnership will strengthen the collaboration across countries on technology exchange and commercialization on projects of mutual interest.

Dr Tidu Maini, Pro Rector, Development and Corporate Affairs at Imperial College London, Dr Michael Cleare, Executive Director, Science & Technology Ventures, Columbia University and Mr Boon Swan Foo, Managing Director of A*STAR and Executive Chairman of Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd signed the Memorandum of Understanding at a special event today in Singapore. Over 80 guests from the scientific community, bioinformatics companies, and technology transfer industry attended the event.

As part of their collaboration, the three partners will access information on potential licensees, strategic partners for spin-out companies, investor networks and share best practices in technology transfer. More importantly, the three partners will have valuable opportunities to explore their respective technology portfolios for synergies and make connections with their investor networks as well as broaden their knowledge of the respective geographic markets.

In May 2002, Imperial College London and Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd of Singapore signed the first international collaboration agreement on technology transfer. Since last year, both parties have initiated a job swap programme to exchange technology transfer expertise and have explored opportunities for potential commercialization in Singapore and the United Kingdom.

With the entry of Columbia University, the tripartite collaboration and technology network will be further strengthened and brought to a global platform.

"From the experience of collaboration so far, Imperial can identify many areas of benefit at all stages in the technology transfer process and we are very pleased that Columbia is joining this collaboration and adding another important dimension to our global activities." Dr Maini comments.

Dr Michael Cleare of Columbia University expressed enthusiasm for the agreement. "I am very excited at the opportunities that this major global collaboration brings. It has the potential to make shared technologies more readily available to global industries, and hence, societies. It should also stimulate educational and academic exchanges which will further the global experiences of our students and faculty."

Mr Boon said: "Exploit Technologies is pleased to work with our partners, Imperial College London and Columbia University to build up a global intellectual property portfolio. The increasingly transdisciplinary scientific research across countries opens up more opportunities for commercialization. The combined technology transfer expertise, access to innovative research and wide global network as a result of the tripartite collaboration gives us competitive strength to exploit the growing technology market strategically."

The three partners have already laid down a series of meetings and activities in the pipeline. Before the Signing Ceremony, Exploit has organised a VC Forum to share each of the organisations spin-out processes and showcase various spin-out companies to leading Venture Capitalists in Singapore. This is a valuable sharing and networking session that opens up partnership and investment opportunities for all the three technology transfer agencies and the local VCs. Immediately after the MOU Signing comes the Bioinformatics Symposium that allows mutual sharing and understanding of research and commercialization direction in Bioinformatics. Meetings will be conducted to allow in-depth discussions on the clustering and bundling of Bioinformatics patents for commercialization.

The MOU Signing Ceremony was held at the Institute of Microelectronics (IME) in Singapore.

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For more information please contact:

Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd
Dr Lawrence Quek
Alice Chan
Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd
Corporate Communications, A*STAR
Tel: (65) 6826 6284
Tel: (65) 6826 6338
E-mail: lawrence@exploit-tech.com
Mobile: (65) 9004 8340

Imperial College Innovations Ltd
Brian Graves
Head, Physical Sciences and Engineering Technology
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6598
E-mail: b.graves@imperial.ac.uk

Columbia University
Joseph Kennedy
Senior Public Affairs Officer
Tel :+ (1) 212-854-9752
Email :jjk2109@columbia.edu

Notes to Editors

Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd

Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd is a commercialisation arm of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore.

Exploit Technologies is the technology transfer vehicle that manages the intellectual property created by A*STAR's twelve research institutes. It facilitates the efficient transfer of technology from the research institutes to industry.

Website: www.exploit-tech.com

Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

A*STAR's mission is to foster world-class scientific research and talent for a vibrant knowledge-based Singapore. A*STAR is organised into four arms: two research councils, the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) and the Science and Engineering Research Council (SREC), a Corporate Planning and Administration Division (CPAD) and the agencys commercialisation arm, Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd.

The two research councils fund and oversee twelve public research institutes in areas such as bioinformatics, genomics, molecular biology, bioengineering, bioprocessing technology, chemical sciences, materials, high performance computing, information technology and communications, manufacturing technology, microelectronics and data storage.

Website: www.a-star.edu.sg

Imperial College Innovations Ltd

Imperial College Innovations Ltd is one of the UKs leading technology transfer companies having created over 50 spin-out companies and concluded over 60 licence agreements in the last four years.

The portfolio of spin-out companies created by Imperial College Innovations includes two that are publicly quoted, over 15 that are Venture Capital/Private Equity Funded and over 30 that have initial seed funding. In addition, there are more than 36 embryonic companies which represent a pipeline of future spin-out companies.

The diverse technology areas covered by the spin-out companies include Analytical Tools, Biotechnology, Chemicals, Drug Discovery, Instrumentation, Renewable Energy, Materials, Software, Surgical Devices, and Telecoms.

Website: www.imperialinnovations.co.uk

Imperial College London

Consistently rated in the top three UK university institutions, Imperial College London is a world leading science-based university whose reputation for excellence in teaching and research attracts students (10,000) and staff (5,000) of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions which enhance the quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.

Imperial has one of the largest annual turnovers (£390 million for 2000-01) and research incomes (£202 million for 2000-01). In the December 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, 75 per cent of staff achieved a 5* rating, the highest proportion in any UK university. Imperial has a number of strategic links with Singapore, and currently has over 200 students and 1,100 alumni from the country.

The Rector of Imperial, Sir Richard Sykes, has been Chairman of Singapores Life Sciences International Advisory Council since it was formed in 2000 to help the country grow in Life Sciences research and industry.

Imperial College Business School offers a Singapore MBA that is designed for executives who live and work in Singapore. The 27-month part-time programme for students resident in Singapore is delivered wholly face-to-face by Imperial faculty and involves studying in Singapore and London. The Singapore MBA programme starts in June each year and the June 2001 intake was 47 participants.

Website: www.imperial.ac.uk

Columbia University

One of the worlds leading universities and the first college in New York, Columbia was chartered as Kings College by George ll in 1754 and renamed after the American Revolution. After thriving at two locations over nearly a century and a half, the University moved to its current 36-acre, 71-building site in 1897, one year after being designated a university. The campus, designed in the Italian Renaissance style by McKim, Mead and White, is on two levels, crowned by the domed Low Memorial Library, now the administration building. Butler Library opposite holds one of the countrys largest research collections, more than 7 million volumes. Columbia, an Ivy League school, began the transformation of Morningside Heights and continues to help change the world through pathbreaking research in medicine, science and the humanities. 64 Nobel laureates have taught or studied at Columbia. The faculty of 6,500 teaches 22,000 students in 16 schools (Columbia College, Arts, Architecture, Business, Continuing Education and Special Programs, Dentistry, Engineering, General Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, International Affairs, Journalism, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, Social Work) and 69 academic departments ranked among the finest in America. In an unprecedented era of scientific and technological advance, Columbia University is one of the world's premier research institutions. Throughout Columbia's schools and divisions, leading scientists are pursuing research and making discoveries that are having a profound impact on our lives and our world.

Columbia University created Science & Technology Ventures (S&TV) to facilitate the transfer of scientific discovery and innovation from the university setting to the marketplace and to ensure that both the inventor and the University's research and educational activities benefit from that transfer.

Science & Technology Ventures is designed to identify, evaluate, protect, and license Columbia's intellectual property, increase private sector funding for research and development, and encourage technology transfer and entrepreneurial activities. Organized into four groups--Engineering, Computer, and Physical Sciences; Health Sciences; New Ventures; and STV Partnerships.

Science & Technology Ventures is the foremost and most successful university technology transfer unit in the United States.

Website: www.columbia.edu

www.stv.columbia.edu