Formation
The £9m White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund was founded in 1999 with £4.5m from the Government's University Challenge Competition and a further £1.5m from the White Rose Universities (Leeds, Sheffield and York). The £4.5m includes funding from the Office of Science and Technology, the Wellcome Trust and the Gatsby Foundation.
In June 2002 the Fund received just under £3m from Yorkshire Forward (the Regional Development Agency for Yorkshire and the Humber) bringing the total size of the Fund to just under £9m.
The Fund is supported by Yorkshire Forward and the Universities of York, Leeds and Sheffield.
Research base
Research Excellence
The most recent RAE national assessment of research standards (RAE 2001) confirmed that the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York (the White Rose Universities) are amongst the top ten research universities in the UK. All are members of the Northern Research Partnership as well as the Worldwide Universities Network. Their knowledge base has won many plaudits for excellence and provides world class research to the commercial sector.
The research spending capacity of the White Rose Universities is greater than that of either Oxford or Cambridge and together the Universities account for 86% of the region's research spend, with a combined annual spend of over £200m. The White Rose Universities also have an impressive record for commercialising their research and between them have spun out more than 70 companies, a significant number of which have been supported by the White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund.
In addition the three Universities work together on a number of significant initiatives, including the Health Innovation Partnership, the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Enterprise and the Science Learning Centre. Further details on the research base provided by the White Rose Universities can be found on the White Rose Consortium website: www.whiterose.ac.uk
All three universities have technology transfer units: