The strategic alliance brings together the tissue engineering research efforts of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, the University of Tampere (Finland), the Tampere Institute of Biosciences and Medical Technology (Finland), VTT the Technical Research Center of Finland, the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland) and Queens University of Belfast (Northern Ireland).
“This collaboration between Massachusetts, Northern Ireland and Finland will encourage and advance research that will lead to groundbreaking discoveries and economic development,” Senate President Murray said. “Through NIMAC, and under the leadership of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, we have been able formalize the necessary connections for this Alliance. These kinds of opportunities are exactly why we started NIMAC and what allow us to highlight the Commonwealth internationally and provide untapped avenues for future economic development.”
“Queen's University and the University of Ulster participating in this key international collaboration in tissue engineering is a great achievement for NIMAC,” said Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Industry. “Set up initially to strengthen business and research relationships between Northern Ireland and Massachusetts, NIMAC now includes Finland. It is a fitting development, therefore, that this tissue engineering collaboration has resulted directly from the NIMAC trade mission to Finland in April, which was supported by delegates from Massachusetts and Northern Ireland.”
“This alliance, made possible by the leadership of Senate President Murray, strengthens UMass Dartmouth's leadership position in regenerative materials,” UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack said. “We look forward to our faculty, led by Dr. Paul Calvert, collaborating with colleagues in Finland and Northern Ireland to advance research and development in this fast emerging field of discovery. Partnerships like this, combined with smart investments, such as the UMass Dartmouth Bio-Manufacturing Center in Fall River, will transform the South Coast economy.”
“Massachusetts is home to world leading tissue engineering and manufacturing companies, such as Organogenesis, as well as academic institutions that are advancing the science of tissue engineering, such as UMass-Dartmouth, ” said Susan-Windham Bannister, President & CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the agency charged with implementing the state’s ten-year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative. “This collaboration among three of the world’s leading regions for life sciences research and commercialization will accelerate the promise of important new advancements in patient care across the globe.”
The Alliance allows the various institutions to develop international exchange and cooperative research projects which will include regenerative biology, biomaterials, tissue engineering, biomedical gels and nanofibrous scaffolds. The agreement also lays the foundation to jointly pursue research funding from both U.S. and European funding sources as a way to advance research and move toward economic development opportunities.
NIMAC was created in 2009 between Massachusetts and Northern Ireland. In 2010, Finland joined NIMAC. Together, through this unofficial organization, Massachusetts, Northern Ireland and Finland are working to identify opportunities for collaboration and economic development in the areas of life sciences and connected health, with Massachusetts as the portal to the United States for European health care technology and life science companies.
NIMAC will hold meetings in Boston in late October.
For more information, please contact:
David Falcone
Senate President’s Office
617-722-1500
Angus G. McQuilken
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center
617-921-7749
John Hoey
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
508-999-8027
