The university 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, Cranfield University, 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, Life Sciences and Health Tech.

Director of IP Commercialisation, Research and Innovation at the university, Susan Huxtable, said: “As an institution that is dedicated to growth, investment, and success for the region we call home, the University of Nottingham is delighted to be a part of Midlands Mindforge.

“Our entrepreneurial academics are already creating successful businesses, helping to boost economic growth and create highly skilled employment opportunities that people want and our region needs.

“This new company will strengthen the existing support network for research entrepreneurs in the Midlands, encouraging innovation and providing postgraduate students and researchers with early access to investment.”

Collectively, the eight founding universities have the most post-graduate 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 UK university grouping.

Minister of State for Science, Research & Innovation George Freeman MP said: “Commercialising UK science & technology for global industrial adoption has never been more urgent – for both the UK 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 UK 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 UK cluster of excellence and Midlands Mindforge will play a key role in bringing global investors to help back world class companies.”

For more information about Midlands Mindforge visit www.midlandsmindforge.com