Cardiff Metropolitan University is celebrating after being shortlisted by RCUK & PraxisUnico for its prestigious annual Impact Awards.
The Impact Awards reward and recognise knowledge exchange, technology transfer and commercialisation professionals who have excelled in enabling and facilitating the achievement of impact from the outcomes of research. Cardiff Met has been shortlisted in the Outstanding Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC) Initiative category for its Knowledge Innovation Technology Exchange (KITE) project. KITE has succeeded in increasing sales of Welsh based food and drink products by £75m, over seven times above the target set and two years ahead of schedule
David Lloyd, Director of the Food Industry Centre at Cardiff Metropolitan University said: “This is great news for the KITE programme and for Cardiff Met. We have worked extremely hard and wouldn’t have been shortlisted for this award without the help of our dedicated team.
“When we started the KITE programme, our primary aim was to increase sales of Welsh based food and drink products by £10m by the end of 2014. This target was reached in 2012 and the total sum is now at £75m. This is testimony to the effectiveness of the KITE programme and how hard the team have worked.”
The KITE programme began in 2009 and is funded by the EU and Welsh Government. It is designed to minimise disruption to SME businesses, specifically in the Welsh food sector, whilst optimising the potential for increased control and maximising profits.
Professor Jackie Hunter, RCUK Impact Champion, said: “It is wonderful that the teams and individuals who work in knowledge exchange and commercialisation are to be honoured for their essential contribution to research. RCUK have always emphasised the importance of Knowledge Exchange Commericalisation to a healthy research community and will continue to provide our support in this area. Well done to all those nominated and good luck for the awards ceremony.”
Sue O’Hare, Chair at PraxisUnico, said: “Many congratulations to the shortlisted entrants and I look forward to the Impact Awards final in September. The standard of entries has been extremely high this year, demonstrating that these are not isolated examples of outstanding knowledge exchange and commercialisation; rather they are typical of activities that are taking place every day in universities and public sector research establishments around the UK and beyond – it is a great and exciting time to be part of the innovation industry.”
The KITE programme is shortlisted alongside Oxford University’s ‘Isis Innovations Ltd’ and Lancaster University with partners University of Liverpool and Inventya Ltd, with the Impact Award winners being announced at a ceremony in London on September 15th 2015.