Originally Published 6 July 2000

Stephen Byers, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has announced that the University of Warwick has been awarded one of four additional Science Enterprise Centres (to complement the eight centres announced by the Government last year).

Warwick will receive £1.5 million to set up its centre which will be known as the "Mercia Institute of Enterprise". It will operate in partnership with University of Birmingham and all other West Midland's universities will be members of the Mercia Institute.

Within the University the Mercia Institute aims to require all Warwick's science and business students to take an assessed course on entrepreneurialism equipping them for the possibility of starting their own businesses on leaving university. Working across the West Midlands the Mercia Institute will help develop business expertise in science and transfer knowledge from the science lab to the marketplace by:

Fostering the commercialisation of research and new ideas;

• Stimulating scientific entrepreneurialism;
• Incorporating the teaching of enterprise into the science and engineering curricula;
• Acting as centres of excellence for the transfer and exploitation of scientific knowledge and expertise

Announcing the additional centres, Mr Byers said:

"I very much look forward to seeing these centres develop. I am confident that they will make a significant contribution to the UK's enterprise and innovation culture."

Professor David Storey of Warwick Business School's Small and Medium Sized Enterprises centre will be the Academic Director of the Mercia Institute of Enterprise. He said:

"There is currently great interest by many undergraduates at Warwick in starting their own business. Our task is to offer help to them and make others aware of the possibility of starting on their own."

Note for Editors: NB the "Mercia Institute of Enterprise" centre and its £1.5 million funding is different from and in addition to the "Mercia Fund" story announced earlier this year.

For further details please contact:

Professor David Storey, Director
Centre for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
Warwick Business School
Tel: 024 76 523692

Further information about the above press release and all other media services at the University of Warwick can be obtained from:

Peter Dunn, Press Officer
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL
West Midlands
Tel: 024 76 523708
Email: puapjd@warwick.ac.uk