Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer visits Imperial College London

George Osborne calls on other universities to follow Imperial’s incubator example -News

By Colin Smith

Thursday 28 February 2008

A new vision of environmental entrepreneurship in the UK was outlined by a senior politician at a lecture held at Imperial College London yesterday.

George Osborne MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, spoke to captains of industry and finance, environmentalists, academics and Imperial students about new Conservative initiatives aimed at making the UK an environmental technology world leader .

The Shadow Chancellor, speaking in the Sir Alexander Fleming Building, praised Imperial College’s environmental credentials and called for more universities to emulate its incubator model, which is providing green technology entrepreneurs with crucial financial support and business expertise.

George Osborne is shown biofuels research

He announced the creation of a working group which will draw up a detailed roadmap for rolling out green technology incubators, similar to Imperial’s, across all UK universities. Headed by David Mott, co-founder of the venture capital firm Oxford Capital Partners, the working group will also receive input from the College.

“Professor Nagy Habib, the Pro Rector for Commercial Affairs here at Imperial, will also contribute to the working group as co-chair, helping us to unleash the potential for environmental entrepreneurship that exists in our universities,” said Mr Osborne.

He also praised work undertaken by Imperial’s Porter Alliance, a collaboration between the College, Rothamsted Research, the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research and the John Innes Centre, which is working to develop sustainable methods of converting biomass – biological resources into biofuels and biomaterials.

The Shadow Chancellor went on to announce new incentives for savers to invest in environmentally friendly companies and proposals to establish a Green Environmental Market (GEM) in London which would provide capital and opportunities for green companies in Britain.

Dr Tariq Ali, Research Director of Imperial’s Energy and Environment Office and organiser of the event, welcomed Mr Osborne and outlined the College’s commitment to world leading energy and environmental research initiatives.

George Osborne delivers his speech in the Sir Alexander Fleming Building

“From climate change to sustainable energy resources, Imperial is committed to research and development of new technologies which will deliver cleaner and greener outcomes for the planet. I welcome Mr Osborne to Imperial to discuss his ideas for making the UK a centre for green finance and technology,” said Dr Ali.

Dr Ali, went on to discuss the work undertaken by Imperial’s Grantham Institute on tackling climate change and outlined the research undertaken by the College’s Energy Futures Lab, which is breaking new ground in sustainable energy research.

Mr Osborne’s speech was followed by a 30 minute question and answer session, where he discussed Conservative environmental policies with members of the audience. Following the discussion, he was then taken on a tour of a biotechnology lab, where he learnt more about Imperial’s efforts to create sustainable plant based liquid fuels.