New York Based Biotech And Pharmaceutical Information Management Company, Cognia Corporation, Expands Overseas Operation; 50 New Jobs
Cognia, headquartered in New York City, expanded operations into the UK in early 2005 with an agreement to work with the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. The original program involved a three-year contract with the University, with ten Cognia employees working onsite. Today, just 18 months into the partnership, the program has far exceeded Cognia's expectations. The company has tripled its operation in Scotland and has set up a European headquarters in South Gyle. Scotland has a reputation for being excellent at "text mining" -- a process of analyzing large quantities of text to identify and extract valuable information. Scots owe this area of excellence to their linguistic history of Celtic and Scottish Gaelic dialects. Text mining is a key skill in the development of Cognia's information platform.
"Beyond being an excellent economic move for our company, we have been overwhelmingly impressed with the caliber of talent we've been able to attract and retain in the UK," said Robert Merold, Chief Executive Officer of Cognia Corporation. "UK Trade & Investment is a great resource and has been instrumental in guiding us through the transition into the European marketplace. Our experience of doing business in Scotland has been superb, and we plan to have additional operations up and running in England by the end of 2006."
Cognia plans to continue its growth in the UK with the addition of a corporate service office in Cambridge, England, an expansion that will add an estimated 50 employees to their UK presence. Cambridge, with 125 biotech companies, is one of Cognia's most lucrative markets.
About Cognia
Cognia is a next generation database creation and aggregation technology company. The first major application is to create information solutions for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that accelerate discovery by harnessing the power of highly disparate information.
Cognia has expertise and proprietary technologies to develop proprietary databases. Cognia's information management platform, Cognia Molecular Information Center, provides a relational database structure that organizes the myriad complexities of biology. It contains input tools for integrating proprietary, commercial and public information, and analysis tools for analysis and visualization. Cognia also provides Integrated Content Modules and Curation Services.
For more information, please visit http://www.cognia.com or email Cognia at productinfo@cognia.com.
Cognia is headquartered in New York, with a research and development center in Edinburgh, Scotland.
About UK Trade & Investment:
UK Trade & Investment is the British Government's international business development agency, supporting companies in the UK doing business internationally and overseas enterprises seeking to establish a market footprint in the UK. The integrated services offered by UK Trade & Investment bring together a network of business sector specialists and support teams in over 200 British embassies and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) posts overseas, as well as key experts in government departments across the UK.
As a government agency, UK Trade & Investment is uniquely positioned to offer expanding companies access to a growing network of global business advisors and bespoke market entry intelligence and guidance on operational issues. With its government connections, in-depth knowledge of UK regional business, ties to leading institutions, science and technology resources, as well as its global network, UK Trade & Investment is a unique strategic resource for companies that want to operate in the number one business location in Europe. For more information visit: http://www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk.
Media contacts: Shirar O'Connor-Mugler Katherine Saunders UK Trade & Investment Hill & Knowlton Tel: (212) 745-0420 Tel: (212) 885-0586 shirar.o'connor@fco.gov.uk Katherine.Saunders@hillandknowlton.com
Source: UK Trade & Investment