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2008-11-01 - LTN Support
The London Technology Network (LTN) has helped London-based company Biotronics3D make contact with the best researchers from across Europe and the UK. A collaboration with the Institute of Cancer Research will not only boost the company’s position in the global oncology market, but has resulted in substantial investment from Longbow Capital. Biotronics3D is a London-based SME, active in the research, development and marketing of advanced, image-based diagnostic devices. The company provides cutting-edge software to improve healthcare by extracting diagnostic data and transforming it into usable information. A new medical imaging product was focused on breast cancer diagnostics, and the company’s CEO Haralambos Hatzakis was keen to work with an organisation with extensive research on dynamic MRI imaging, to help develop and expand their product. “Developing innovation carries many risks and in such a fast moving market as the market of global diagnostics, no company has enough resources or skills in-house to maintain a position at the forefront of innovation,” Hatzakis said. “It’s important to leverage skills that exist ‘outside the company’ in the delivery of products with aggressive go to market timeframes. In the modern knowledge based economy this is critical. “LTN is ideally positioned today, to deliver a collaborative framework that could assist innovative companies in accelerating the engagement with the market by utilising untapped resources within other companies or within academia," he said. Professor Martin Leach of the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) is working with Biotronics 3D on the project, sharing knowledge from the largest cancer research institution in Europe. Leach is a key LTN contact, and began his connection with the technology transfer organisation as a Business Fellow – a top-level academic trained by LTN to engage more effectively with industry. "Biotronics3D provide a framework to the ICR for further exploring commercial opportunities for our IP, whilst also contributing to our research efforts,” Leach said. The project has attracted significant investment from London-based specialists Longbow Capital LLP. Longbow’s co-founder Edward Rudd said that despite the potential gloom of 2008, “now is the right time for investors to invest in the future and support projects that further exploit industry-academia collaborations with strong business plans for commercial exploitation”. For LTN’s Alessandro Faraci, the collaboration has broader implications. “London has an abundance of research capabilities and commercial expertise in the field of medical imaging, and we believe that collaborations like ICR and B3D can be the key to raise London’s profile as a major biotech hub of excellence." |
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