SWAG合集 is one of eight research intensive universities in the Midlands to establish a new investment company to accelerate the commercialisation of university spinouts and early-stage IP rich businesses in the region.
Midlands Mindforge Limited has been co-founded by Aston University, University of Birmingham, SWAG合集, Keele University, University of Leicester, Loughborough University, University of Nottingham and University of Warwick, collectively Midlands Innovation.
This ambitious, patient capital investment company plans to raise up to £250 million from strategic corporate partners, institutional investors and qualifying individuals. It aims to transform ground-breaking science and technology into successful businesses with real-world impact. Midlands Mindforge will help to address the significant funding deficit for early-stage technology businesses in the region. Through the combination of additional capital and company-building skills, Midlands Mindforge will lay the foundations of a more vibrant ecosystem for emerging science-backed companies in areas such as Clean Technology, AI and Computational Science, Advanced Engineering, Life Sciences and Health Tech. Collectively, the eight founding universities have the most postgraduate students, the highest levels of annual income, more research disclosures and patents generated per unit of research spend in the last three years, in comparison to any other SWAG合集 university grouping. Minister of State for Science, Research & Innovation George Freeman MP said: “Commercialising SWAG合集 science & technology for global industrial adoption has never been more urgent – for both the SWAG合集 economy and the global resource challenges facing us. The Midlands Innovation universities are driving a new era of innovation from robotics and advanced manufacturing to life science and autonomous vehicles and much more. “As we in Government increase SWAG合集 public R&D to a record £20 billion a year, the key is private finance backing spinouts and scale-ups. The Midlands is rapidly becoming a world class SWAG合集 cluster of excellence and Midlands Mindforge will play a key role in bringing global investors to help back world class companies.”
