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Innovators and collaborators recognised in University annual awards

Innovation, creativity and enterprise were recognised at the University's annual Innovation Awards on Wednesday (23 October).

Members of Kent's business community and representatives of partner organisations were welcomed by University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow to the event, held at the Canterbury Innovation Centre on the University's Canterbury campus.

The three categories in the Awards, which were organised and hosted by Kent Innovation and Enterprise (KIE), were: Impact Through Knowledge Exchange; Innovation; and Collaboration.

Darren Griffin, Professor of Genetics at the University's School of Biosciences, won both the impact and collaboration awards for his research and work in a number of areas, including projects with The London Bridge Fertility, Gynaecology and Genetics Centre and JSR Genetics Ltd.

Chris Barron, of the University's School of Engineering and Digital Arts, won the Innovation Award for a project to produce an attendance monitoring device for students.

Dame Julia said: 'As a University we encourage and support innovation and enterprise. We are therefore delighted to not only recognise but, through this event, celebrate the many wonderful innovative, creative and collaborative achievements from the past year.'

Dame Julia also said that alongside its role as a champion of innovation and enterprise, the University also has a major role in the regional economy, 'contributing almost £600m a year to the region and employing close to 3000 people'.

KIE's role is to build strong links between University research and business and to develop, support and create high-growth enterprise in the region. KIE works with many organisations - from student start-ups and academic spin-outs to regional and multinational companies - on a variety of projects.

Contact: pressoffice@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 11:37am 25 October 2012