Feb 10 2011
A £325,000 investment into Bioinnovel by the IP Group will aid Joanna Vlahopoulou to direct her team to ensure a revolution in the pharmaceutical industry upon completion of the development of a sensor, which will help save the industry of thousands of pounds.
The sensor, which is due to reach the markets in six months, will be a fundamental part of the R&D processes and will phenomenally help reduce production cost in a wide range of products for pharma, food ingredients, bio fuels and specialist chemicals. Vlahopoulous’s inspiration came four years ago, when she identified that there was no such technology that provided dependable and instantaneous measurement of microbial fermentation processes.
IP Group is the manager of Finance for Business North East Technology Fund. Supported by European Regional Development Funds, European Investment Bank and One North East; the North East Technology Fund, which is a £25m venture capital fund that invests in technology and businesses that are willing to move to, or are based in the Northeast. Bioinnovel began in Cambridge, but in 2008, moved to the Northeast, as the managing director of Bioinnovel, Joanna Vlahopoulou stated that Northeast is a highly impressive region to do business in, since the region is linked not only to financial support but also to other resources that can be tapped into.