This piece of news will be welcomed by students all over the country. The DTI has recently awarded �52 million to a number of universities under the third round of the Higher Education Innovation Fund or HEIF. The goal of the awards is to aid in building closer ties between business and institutions that offer higher education.
One of the projects that will share in the 52 million pounds funding handout are initiatives whose goal is to boost the number of entrepreneurs, establish a UK creative industry in China and to target the early signs of disease.
The DTI has awarded to a range of universities under the third round of the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF). The aim of the awards is to help build closer ties between business and higher education institutions.
After announcing the said funding, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alistair Darling said, “Innovation and science are the keys to UK economic growth. Figures show that university spinouts floated on the stock market over the last two years were valued at more than �1 billion. Exploiting the wealth of knowledge in higher education and translating that into real business opportunities is, therefore, vitally important for the UK economy.
Darling added that the Higher Education Innovation Fund will bring together university research along with private sector investment and also stimulate an environment of entrepreneurship within higher education institutions. Darling acknowledges that innovation will be an important factor in the country�s economic prosperity and he said that seeing universities working closely with businesses in order to bring new ideas and technology and then transform that into improved productivity and job opportunities.