A consortium of five universities in South West England and South Wales has received Pounds 250,000 to boost British competitiveness in biotechnology.
The five universities - Bath, Bristol, West of England, Cardiff and the University of Wales College of Medicine - will spend the money on transferring the results of their bioscience research to industry.
The funding was awarded under the Government's Biotechnology Exploration Platform challenge.
The investment will enable the consortium to identify 40 commercial opportunities in its members' bioscience research departments in the next four years. The universities will be able to benefit from these projects by generating profit from royalties and licensing agreements.