£12M funding deal for new institute for biomedical engineering

29 June 2006

Oxford University has signed a private equity deal, initially worth £12m, to help the funding of its new Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) www.ibme.ox.ac.uk. The deal, struck with London’s City-based Technikos, also includes the provision of commercial and financial advice and assistance in return for shares in future spin-outs from IBME.

The Institute, which is part of the University’s Department of Engineering Science, will occupy 20,000 sq ft of a new £50m building on Oxford’s Medical Research Campus next to the Churchill Hospital, expected to open in late 2007. The deal will help pay for the building and equipment costs, and the hiring of additional staff.

Technikos will be working with Isis Innovation Ltd, the University’s technology transfer company, to support IBME in various areas, including identifying intellectual property or technology projects with commercial value; assisting with making those technologies commercial; contributing investment capital to spin-outs; and helping to develop spin-out companies by advising on management, sales and marketing. In return for this financial and commercial support, and for its initial £12m investment, Technikos will obtain half the equity in any Biomedical Engineering spin-out usually given to the University in such deals. Additionally, Technikos will receive half of the University’s share of royalties obtained from licensing out Biomedical Engineering technologies developed during the period of the agreement (approximately 17 years).

Oxford’s Engineering Department has a history of research and innovation in the biomedical area, including biomechanics (the ‘Oxford’ knee), medical imaging (MRI and other methods of diagnosis and image-guided therapy) and drug delivery systems. Other research in the new Institute focuses on cardiovascular engineering (devices and computer modelling), e-health and biosignal processing, and tissue engineering and stem cell culture.

Dr Fred Cornhill, Director of IBME, said: ‘This deal is part of our active development programme which is enabling us to build a global centre of excellence in biomedical engineering.’

For the media release, go to http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/060629.shtml

Picture: The ‘Oxford’ knee developed by the Engineering Department. Credit:Biomet Ltd