IBLF Awards – Apply now and WIN a £10k voucher to springboard your business
The Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum (IBLF) is an industry led and Government sponsored initiative to drive a bio-economy in the UK. The IBLF delivery team, led by the Knowledge Transfer Network, has developed a brand new and unique business competition aimed at early stage SMEs focusing on a biobased technology or process and who would like raise their profile and access resources to springboard their business.
The aim of the IBLF is to create a positive and supportive environment for emerging biotechnology businesses and has developed the IBLF Awards to help SMEs and start-ups access resources considered key to spring-boarding their business but may be difficult to self-fund.
The IBLF Awards are currently open for applications with nine prizes available thanks to the support of the Scottish Government and NERC. The winning SMEs will receive a £10k voucher to redeem against a service of their choice:
• Incubator facilities (office and/or lab)
• Legal advice
• IP Protection/Exploitation
• Market research
• Mentoring
• PR
• Process Facilities
• Web/App design
• Economic/business modeling
Strong support has been received from a range of service providers, with sponsors coming on board weekly and so far, include: Amanda McMurray Ltd, Ellis IP, Greaves Brewster LLP, Inventya, IP Pragmatics Ltd, Mewburn Ellis, Ouzman IP, Proof Communications, Research Media, Skillfluence, Starbit, and three60 marketing and pr.
The IBLF Awards are open to biotech start-ups focusing on using bioprocessing, biocatalysis, or biomass for the production of chemicals, biomaterials, energy or bioactives; or start-ups offering technology aimed at supporting the above industries (e.g. analytical, synthetic biology, omics, sensors, bioreactors, nanotechnology etc.). Applicants must be UK registered and less than 12 months since registration or pre-revenue /early stage company.
The competition is easy to enter with applicants asked to submit a short two-minute video by 5pm 28th November 2014, created on their tablet or mobile phone.
A panel of industry experts will assess the videos and a short list will be invited to give an oral pitch at the Industrial Biotechnology Showcase (11-12 February 2015), London in a ‘Dragons' Den’ style session – The IB Den. The Rt Hon Matthew Hancock MP and co-chair of the IBLF will present the awards.
For further information on the IBLF Awards, please visit www.iblf-awards.co.uk or contact michelle.carter@ktn-uk.org. For further information on the IB Showcase 2015, please visit www.ib-showcase.co.uk
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