Nottingham Fetal Monitoring Team Achieves National Business Plan Success

A team from The University of Nottingham has received national recognition for a business plan proposing the commercialisation of state-of-the-art technology for the monitoring of the health of babies during pregnancy.

In the annual Joint Research Council Business Planning competition, the Nottingham team, christened ‘Monika', beat off competition from 170 other teams to reach the final five in an event at the Royal Society on Tuesday. From stiff competition, the judges awarded the team not just a runner up prize, but also the Best Bio-science Business Plan prize.

The combined prize money of £20,000 will be used to further support the commercialisation of this technology through enhancement of the business plan and the formation of a spinout company to take the products a stage closer to the market.

The Monika team is proposing to commercially exploit patented technology to guide in the safe delivery of unborn babies. The technology underpinning the proposed company - developed jointly by the Schools of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Human Development - has the potential to revolutionise the way in which high-risk pregnancies are managed.

Research into the technology has been ongoing at the University for over 15 years and is based around the clinical application of the diagnostic capabilities of the abdominal fetal Electrocardiogram - the tiny electrical signal generated by the fetal heartbeat that can be picked-up on the mother's abdomen.

Ultimately, the technique could enable GP's and midwives to accurately assess the need for clinical intervention in the 65,000 high-risk births that take place in the UK - and many more across the developed and developing worlds - each year.

Notes:

The team consists of Drs. Barrie Hayes-Gill, John Crowe and Carl Barratt from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Prof. David James from the School of Human Development (Medical Faculty).

They will also be presenting their plan to an audience of investors and support organisations at the Connect Midlands Springboard event in Birmingham on 11th March.

The team have been supported by Commercialisation fellowships from the University's HIRF and Medici schemes and mentored by staff of the Research Support and Commercialisation Office.

Contact:
Dr. Mark Bennett,
Business Development Executive,
RSCO
0115 951 5682
mark.bennett@nottingham.ac.uk

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