Silicon Fen shorts: Cambridge Enterprise Ltd 1st year; GeneMedix relocates to Ireland
Cambridge Enterprise, the University of Cambridge’s commercialisation arm, has marked its first birthday as a limited company.
During the year it embraced a new policy, new management, new structure and a new relationship with the University. It closed 60 licences and 95 consultancy contracts and assumed the management of a portfolio of 72 companies in which it holds equity. Its turnover from technology and knowledge transfer was £6.0m of which £5.4m (90%) was returned to the University’s academics and departments.
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GeneMedix plc, the AIM listed biopharma, will relocate its headquarters to Ireland, consolidating operations now there are no other overseas operations in the Group. It said the infrastructure and resources available in Ireland have been expanded significantly over the past year, and it is now felt that integration with Reliance Life Sciences is sufficiently advanced that operations can be better managed from Ireland. It is expected that relocation will be completed by 15 January 2008.
It is unlikely, due to personal circumstances, that any of the staff based in the head office in Newmarket near Cambridge will be moving permanently to Ireland.
Julian Attfield (pictured), current CEO and CFO, will not be relocating and will leave the Company and the Board at the end of December.
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CSR plc said its BlueCore5-Multimedia silicon features in Toyota's new G-BOOK mX and G-BOOK mX Pro telematics and navigation devices. The G-BOOK allows users to stream crystal clear audio to their car stereo system wirelessly from mobile phones, MP3 players and personal media devices, and also provides a high quality hands-free experience.
CSR appointed Chris Ladas, Senior Vice President Operations to its Board. Mr Ladas, with nearly 40 years of semiconductor experience, has led CSR's world-class manufacturing and testing operations since May 2000. He has been instrumental in establishing CSR's supply chain partnership with TSMC, world leader in wafer foundry operations and ASE, the largest assembly and test subcontractor in the industry.
CSR also said Kristine Overlaur has been appointed to the board responsible for bringing UWB (Ultra Wideband) Bluetooth to the mass market, the WiMedia Alliance. The appointment underlines CSR's UWB technology for worldwide use in mobile phones and other battery powered portable devices, with single chip silicon available in H208 with volume ramping in 2009.
UWB is 100 times faster than regular Bluetooth over short distances, and as such, the market opportunity is expected to be significant in data rich applications such as mobile video content sharing. Whilst preserving the low power aspects of Bluetooth and fitting into the existing Bluetooth ecosystem, UWB Bluetooth will be featured in mobile devices in 2008.
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Looking back over 2007, Bango reported strong commercial gains for UK operators that moved to open up the mobile web, with Vodafone UK rising to first place in the value of off-portal content sales through Bango. Measured across its total base of content providers, Bango saw traffic grow fastest on networks where steps were taken to encourage more browsing off-portal and payout rates increased to content providers.
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Meldex International plc, the specialty pharma and OTC company, said its unique TabWrap tablet enabling technology, which produces rapidly dissolving oral tablets resulting in significant patient benefits, has been adopted by the leading German pharmacy group, Gesine, as well as a leading supplier of OTC medicines in the U.S.
An ibuprofen TabWrap analgesic is currently being launched through Dexo GmBH, Meldex's subsidiary in Germany, in addition to which Gesine and other pharmacy groups have confirmed their intention to launch a second TabWrap analgesic, based on paracetamol and aimed at the children's market, in 2008, subject to regulatory approval. Meldex is also entering into distribution agreements with a major own-label producer of OTC medicines in the U.S., which will result in the launch of a complete range of analgesic products based on paracetamol.
14th December 2007
