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EAST
MALLING CELEBRATES ITS OFFICIAL LAUNCH
Issue embargoed to: 25th November 2002
Companies already demonstrating tangible
benefits of nurturing by Enterprise Hubs
Two innovative companies - ProGenCo and East Malling Ornamentals
- are already demonstrating the tremendous benefits in terms
of funding, access to resources and business acumen afforded to
start-up companies by association with an Enterprise Hub.
The companies are both sited at Invicta Innovations, the East
Malling Enterprise Hub, an initiative designed to promote the
development of new technology-driven businesses in the food, health
and environment sectors. The Hub is sponsored by the South East
England Development Agency (SEEDA), Kent County Council, Horticulture
Research International (HRI) and the East Malling Trust for Horticultural
Research.
East Malling Enterprise Hub is officially launched today by
Robert Neame CBE, Chairman of Shepherd Neame brewery, and Allan
Willett CMG, Chairman of SEEDA.
ProGenCo is developing methods using plants as factories which
will provide pharmaceutical companies with direct and cost-effective
access to drugs to treat patients suffering from, amongst others,
cystic fibrosis, hepatitis B, diabetes and cancer.
East Malling Ornamentals is poised to launch into the worldwide
market for novel ornamental plants early next year. This fledgling
company plans to use field and laboratory-based techniques to
produce new plants for this market. The company says that by being
resident in the East Malling Enterprise Hub it has access to superb
laboratory, glasshouse and field facilities on an 'as needed'
basis and can draw on a long and successful history of plant breeding
and plant science in horticulture at East Malling. The Enterprise
Hub is working with East Malling Ornamentals to obtain a DTI SMART
Feasibility Study Award.
It is intended that East Malling Enterprise Hub will provide
central support and expertise tailored to the specific needs of
the land-based, food and bio-science sectors. Invicta Innovations
is situated at the heart of the world famous plant science research
station HRI East Malling, which experiments in perennial horticultural
crop research and development; close proximity to this world-class
facility should give those fledgling companies based there access
to state-of-the-art equipment, resources and knowledgeable staff.
The Hub has established local partnerships with Kent County Council,
Business Link, Natural Resources Institute, NR International and
the Kent and Medway Enterprise Board. As well as the invaluable
resources offered by HRI, young companies on site will also be
able to exploit the Hub's academic links with Imperial College
at Wye and the Universities of Kent, Reading and Greenwich.
The Hub is championed by Robert Neame CBE, Chairman of Shepherd
Neame Ltd., who says: "We need entrepreneurs in bioscience
and we must build on the UK's reputation for first class
research and development. Farmers and growers have been experiencing
difficult times and can benefit from the development of new crops
which will become commercially viable."
Robert Neame believes that the Hub concept offers real opportunities
for entrepreneurs. "It is pretty rare for entrepreneurs
to have all the necessary business skills. They have the creative
capacity, and perhaps the sales motivation, but the Hubs concept
tries to fill in the gaps - from how to prepare an application
for finance to testing the product in the marketplace."
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