Enterprise

Our goal is to strengthen and develop links between the Institute for Life Sciences and external partners, starting with companies within the south region.  Among the many benefits of collaboration are knowledge exchange, creation of high value jobs and retention of graduates in the region.

We have contributed to the government-sponsored Science and Innovation Audit for the south of England: “Innovation South: A Powerhouse of World Class Strengths in Digital Enabling Technologies”.  The Innovation South Consortium, led by Enterprise M3 LEP has produced an audit report which can be downloaded from this link.

We have engaged with industry to build relationships map our local expertise through a series of surveys on life sciences enterprise activity in the region.  We achieved this by working with our Local Enterprise Partnerships: Swindon & Wiltshire, Solent and Enterprise M3. The Solent scoping exercise was co-funded by Wessex Academic Health Sciences Network.

Click on the image below to use the interactive map of regional companies working within the life sciences sector, created by OBN in December 2016.

Key findings from the surveys showed a number of enterprise clusters that should be developed into ‘smart specialisations’ to distinguish our region. These overlap with areas of excellence and critical mass within the University of Southampton:

• Orthopaedics, Prosthetics and Assistive Technologies
• Sensors, Devices, Nanotechnology and Microfluidics
• Information Technology, Data and Web Sciences
• Ophthalmology, Materials and Optics

FortisNet takes the first of these themes and brings together the necessary elements of the innovation and enterprise ecosystem as the first step to develop a smart specialisation.  FortisNet is a collaborative, interdisciplinary research network in musculoskeletal health. Our vision is to be the national network that leads the world in the development of novel technology and services for stronger, active bodies. We will be a ‘one-stop shop’ for clinicians, industry, researchers, and service users to work together for the benefit of all. By working together, we can improve outcomes and quality of life for the people who use the technology, and we can do it at a greater pace.

Collaborative research and knowledge transfer

There are numerous ways that businesses can collaborate with the Institute for Life Sciences, for example acting as an industrial advisor to a project, hosting an Excel Undergraduate or Postgraduate student in your business, sponsoring a PhD studentship, leading collaborative applications to Catalyst programmes (Agri-Tech, Biomedical, Energy; Industrial Biotechnology) or taking part in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, to name but a few. 

For more information on ways to collaborate with the Institute for Life Sciences, please contact Dr Alexandra Mant: a.mant@southampton.ac.uk