Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/538681
10 UMIC ® UMIP ® UMI 3 UMIP CO-SPONSORS AND EXHIBITS AT EDUCATE NORTH CONFERENCE AND AWARDS Held at the Hilton Hotel, the aim of the conference was to inform attendees about the scale and investment taking place at Universities and higher education institutions across the North and how their Intellectual Property is commercialised and funded. We exhibited 5 University of Manchester innovations which included our EasyCare Cotton technology, illustrated by a pair of Levis jeans, a 3M respirator cartridge containing PIMs technology, our Microshocks safety harness and lanyard as used by NationalGrid, HiSolar Ltd's innovative hybrid lighting system and a prototype graphene lightbulb which will be released by Graphene Lighting Plc later this year. The morning session focused on the size, scale and achievements of the HE and FE sector in the North and also addressed some of the financial and commercial realities the sector faces in the coming years. Professor Colin Bailey, Deputy President and Deputy VC at the University, spoke about the value of reputation and innovation within the HE sector and the impact it can have on the academic and commercial life of its immediate region. The afternoon session explored ways that the sector and commercial bodies work together and examine how effective the HE sector is at exploiting commercial opportunities. From among the speakers, Tony Walker, Director of Enterprise and Business Development at UMIP, spoke about UMIP's experience and track-record in commercialising innovations from The University of Manchester. Tony comments: "We were pleased to showcase our range of innovations to the attendees and to demonstrate that UMIP's contribution to the Universities commercialisation and impact agenda over the last ten years has generated significant outcomes, locally, nationally and internationally.The message was clear though that we need to build on this and find new and agile ways to scale our contribution through collaboration and co-operation with business and local civic bodies to unleash the innovative capacity of our academics, students and recent alumni." Over 200 people attended the evening awards ceremony and, with 17 categories ranging from Lecturer of the Year to Research Team of the Year, it was a great celebration of the outstanding teams and people behind further and higher education institutions' initiatives across the North. For a full list of awards, please see www.educatethenorth.com On 3rd June, we exhibited at the Educate North Conference and Awards as one of the key event sponsors alongside the Telegraph Group and Barclays. The event was organised by Carm Productions' Rob McLoughlin and Prolific North's Nick Jaspan with Professor Sir Cary Cooper of University of Manchester spin-out, Robertson Cooper, as the academic chair.