Funding wins more time for THYME
A regional collaborative project has won funding to continue for another year.
A project led by the University of York to boost the region’s bioeconomy has been granted funding of £1.8m from Research England to continue its work for another year.
Collaboration
The THYME project is a collaboration between the Universities of York, Hull and Teesside. It aims to develop innovation and boost productivity in the region by strengthening relationships between academics and industry, and enables scientific projects to progress to real-world commercial opportunities.
The project is delivered in partnership with the Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC) and BioVale.
BDC Director Joe Ross said: “For the past three years, the engagement and enthusiasm of all the staff across the three Universities has been exceptional. We have found new and innovative ways to work together and to reach out to bio-based businesses and other regional stakeholders.”
THYME has recently awarded the three universities a further £1m to develop 20 projects with industry to drive growth in the region’s bioeconomy and help tackle some of society’s most pressing challenges. One company supported by THYME is York-based Starbons. Its Chief Executive Officer Susan Bench explained how the project had helped develop the company.
Specialist
She said: “Via THYME proof of concept funding we were able to access specialist equipment and expertise at the BDC and Teesside University, to successfully develop our methodology of using damaged starch for the potential use in preserving vitamins and also in the fabrication of novel Starbon® products. We are also delighted to have received further funding and are now working on the next steps to scale up our research.”
THYME is part of a multi-million investment package to drive university commercialisation across the country through Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund (CCF). The additional funding for the project will run from July 2021 until June 2022.