Nottingham, UK – July 27th, 2009 – Sygnature Chemical Services Ltd., a leading provider of medicinal chemistry and computational chemistry services to the global pharmaceutical industry, has been awarded a £390,000 Grant for Business Investment (GBI) award by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Founded in 2004, Sygnature serves clients all over the world. The business has a team of 32 industry-experienced chemists based at its ‘start-of-the-art’ facilities in BioCity Nottingham, one of Europe’s largest biosciences incubators.
GBI is a discretionary scheme which provides a capital grant to businesses based in England to support sustainable investment. Its aim is to help businesses expand, rationalise, modernise or diversify.
Dr. Simon Hirst, Chief Executive Officer of Sygnature Chemical Services, commented: “We are very pleased to have been awarded this substantial grant by emda. This will be critical to Sygnature as we start construction of another new laboratory to house the additional experienced medicinal chemists that we are currently recruiting. Our phased expansion within BioCity Nottingham continues and, over the next three years, we will transform Sygnature into a fully-integrated drug discovery organisation. The GBI will enable and accelerate this expansion programme and facilitate a greater level of investment into drug discovery technologies, such as high content screening and flow chemistry.”
John O’Reilly, emda’s Business Support Director, said: “The GBI award which we have given to Sygnature is helping it to continue its development as a high calibre science business, by enabling it to both invest in the cutting edge laboratory equipment that it needs to gain a competitive advantage and to help it to expand its operation at BioCity. I wish Sygnature further success in the future as it continues its impressive growth.
“The GBI is already helping many regional businesses to develop and grow, but I am sure that there are many others that could potentially benefit from it. I would strongly urge other businesses in the region to see if they are eligible to apply for GBI.”
In May this year, emda announced that it would be providing an additional £9.5 million to the GBI scheme, with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) contributing a further £1.4 million. The funding will be made available to support businesses up until 2014.
The criteria for GBI relate to location, need, the size and type of the business, the nature and size of the investment, viability, and the quality of the project.
For full details about GBI, visit www.emda.org.uk/gbi, where initial application forms are also available to download.
For more information about other business support that is available, contact the Business Link on 0845 058 6644, or visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/eastmidlands
About Sygnature Chemical Services Ltd.
Sygnature CSL, founded in 2004, is a leading UK-based provider of premium medicinal chemistry, synthetic chemistry, array/focused library and computational chemistry services. We deliver high value and quality to our clients by applying in-house scientific expertise and ‘state-of-the-art’ technologies to the discovery of novel drug candidates. Sygnature’s team of 32 industry-experienced chemists (75% with PhDs) undertake key elements of the drug discovery process, such as hit identification, hit-to-lead and lead optimisation, to afford novel compounds in a time-efficient and cost-effective manner. We work closely with our clients’ scientists to accelerate their drug candidates into development and thereby increase the value of their R&D discovery programmes. Over the past five years, Sygnature has established an enviable reputation and excellent track record of success with an international client base. For more information on Sygnature CSL visit www.sygnaturechem.com.
About emda
East Midlands Development Agency (emda) is one of nine Regional Development Agencies in England, set up in 1999 to bring a regional focus to economic development. Ten years on, independent evaluation shows emda has:
• Had a significant impact on the region’s economy
• Generated economic benefits that substantially outweigh its overall costs
• Put back over £9 of economic output (or GVA) into the regional economy for every £1 it spends
• Produced more than £1 billion in economic benefits per year
• A wider impact on people, places and businesses in the East Midlands that cannot be captured by figures alone.
emda is committed to supporting the region through the current downturn and has put in place a range of measures to provide real help during these challenging times. Over the long term, emda’s aim is to deliver the 2006 Regional Economic Strategy (RES) by working in partnership with public, private and voluntary organisations. The RES highlights the themes of productivity, sustainability and equality and sets out key priorities until 2020 to ensure the vision for ‘a flourishing region’ can be achieved. For more information visit www.emda.org.uk
About ERDF nationally
The ERDF Programme aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion in the European Union by supporting regional economic development.
The ERDF objectives for England are:
• Promoting innovation and knowledge transfer
• Stimulating enterprise and supporting successful business
• Ensuring sustainable development, production and consumption
• Building sustainable communities
• Improving accessibility and connectivity (for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly only – as part of their Convergence Programme).
A Programme Monitoring Committee consisting of regional stakeholders such as Government Offices, RDAs, Regional Assemblies, Local Authorities, Sub-regional Partnerships, Higher Education Institutions, Trade Unions, and the private and voluntary sectors will monitor and oversee programme implementation in each region.
For more information on ERDF funding generally, please visit www.communities.gov.uk/citiesandregions/european or http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funds/feder/index_en.htm
About ERDF in the East Midlands
The East Midlands is eligible for €268.5m (approximately £246m at current exchange rates) between 2007 and 2013, which when combined with match funding, provides a programme value of approximately £492m – a significant investment in the economic development of the region.
The East Midlands qualifies as a competitiveness and employment region under the EU’s Cohesion Policy, which aims to meet the EU Lisbon objective to become ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social inclusion.
East Midlands Development Agency (emda) is responsible for the programme management and delivery of the region’s 2007-13 ERDF Competitiveness Programme. The responsibility for ERDF programme management was transferred from the Government Office for the East Midlands (GOEM) to emda following a decision by the UK Government to seek greater alignment between ERDF and regional strategies and funding streams. The 2007-13 ERDF Programme is therefore set firmly within the framework of the Regional Economic Strategy.
A Programme Monitoring Committee, chaired by the Regional Director of Government Office for the East Midlands (GOEM), guides the strategic direction of the programme and works closely with emda.
To find out more about ERDF, the region’s strategy for delivering the funds, how to apply for funding and how the programme is managed, please visit www.eastmidlandserdf.org.uk
© 2009 Sygnature Chemical Services Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sygnature Chemical Services Ltd. is a company incorporated in England, with company number 05210563, whose registered office and principal place of business is at BioCity, Pennyfoot Street, Nottingham, NG1 1GF, United Kingdom.
