CPI and Imperial College London join forces to accelerate translation of cutting-edge research to industry

07 Apr 2020

CPI today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Imperial College London, laying the groundwork for collaboration on a diverse range of programmes designed to drive economic growth in the UK’s manufacturing sector. By leveraging CPI’s expertise and facilities in areas such as industrial biotechnology, materials technology, and pharmaceutical manufacturing, the two parties will work together to further translate the College’s world-leading research and inventions into impactful products and services. 

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The agreement highlights each party’s ambition to collaborate on both defined technical projects and major strategic programmes. In addition, the organisations will seek opportunities to host each other’s staff with a series of training programmes and secondments. This will accelerate the transfer of complementary scientific knowledge and technical skills between CPI and Imperial.

Imperial College London is frequently ranked within the top ten universities in the world and has a rich history of delivering paradigm-shifting research, including the discovery of penicillin and the invention of holography. CPI can support the College with its expertise in product and process development to accelerate discoveries made on the College lab bench into commercial products and processes. 

Since its inception in 2004, CPI has acted as a bridge between academia and industry, working alongside government and investors to de-risk and accelerate the translation of bright ideas into the marketplace. CPI offers advanced facilities for developing next-generation products and processes through its network of National Centres, such as the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, the National Printable Electronics Centre, and the National Centre for Healthcare Photonics. By working together with world-leading scientists and engineers from Imperial College London, CPI can readily access the latest research and apply it to industrial processes. 

Professor Nick Jennings, Vice-Provost for Research and Enterprise at Imperial College London, said: This partnership with CPI will let us further diversify the routes we use to validate and develop exciting discoveries and inventions across our research portfolio. We are delighted to be working with colleagues at CPI sites to deliver impact from our research for the benefit of the whole UK. The relationship has the potential both to tackle some of the most challenging issues facing the UK’s industrial sectors, and to develop and inspire the next generation of innovators.”

Nick Johnson, Commercial Director at CPI, said: We are delighted to be forming a partnership with one of the most renowned academic institutions in the UK. This relationship will further strengthen CPI’s activities with the academic sector, helping us to deliver on our ambition to commercialise the best research in the UK and enable the UK’s manufacturing sector to thrive.”

Notes to the Editor

About CPI

CPI is an independent technology innovation centre and a founding member of the UK Government’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult. Founded in 2004, CPI applies its years of experience across a broad range of industries to ensure that every great invention gets the best opportunity to become a successfully marketed product. 

CPI’s integrated approach provides its partners with a unique combination of assets, expertise and skills to drive successful innovation. With a deep understanding of innovation processes and funding, outstanding technical expertise and industry-relevant assets, CPI enables products and processes to be quickly and cost-effectively brought to market. By employing bright minds from both academia and industry, CPI helps create a bespoke team that will provide the right support, helping you to navigate the route to commercialisation while reducing risk along the way.

We form connections throughout the supply chain, bringing together investors, government organisations and academic institutions to facilitate the necessary partnerships for effective innovation. This increases productivity across industries and supports the development of next-generation manufacturing, highly-skilled jobs and economic growth for the UK.

About Imperial College London

Imperial College London is one of the world’s leading universities. The College’s 17,000 students and 8,000 staff are expanding the frontiers of knowledge in science, medicine, engineering and business, and translating their discoveries into benefits for our society.

Imperial is the UK’s most international university, according to Times Higher Education, with academic ties to more than 150 countries. Reuters named the College as the UK’s most innovative university because of its exceptional entrepreneurial culture and ties to industry.

https://​www​.impe​r​i​al​.ac​.uk/

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