Following the success of the pioneering Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) established in 2006 by Amadeus Capital Partners and Imperial College London, Amadeus and Imperial have launched a second KTP to identify opportunities in the medical technology (medtech) field. 

The 2006 Amadeus-Imperial KTP was the first time a KTP had been established between a university and a venture capital firm. Funded by the DTI, it included a two-year Associate-level assignment for a graduate with relevant industrial and academic background to participate in the KTP through a Kauffman Fellowship (the renowned US-sponsored training programme for venture capitalists). 

Since 2006, Amadeus and Imperial have met the objectives of their first KTP collaboration, building a partnership that has provided Amadeus with access to Imperial’s research and expertise and enabled Imperial to learn more about what is required for the successful commercialisation of innovative technology. Pat Burtis, the Kauffman Fellow recruited in 2007, subsequently joined the Amadeus team full-time and was promoted this January to Investment Manager, leading the firm’s cleantech investments. 

The second Amadeus-Imperial KTP will be funded by the UK’s Technology Strategy Board. Its objective is to identify emerging investment opportunities and key enabling technologies in UK medtech. Manasi Ramanna has recently been recruited as the KTP Associate for this two-year project. Manasi is a microbiology & biochemistry graduate who began her career with GMP Genetics in Boston, before joining Lifesync Corporation in 2004. In 2007, she worked first with Amadeus and then with 3i as a summer associate, analysing and evaluating medtech investment opportunities.

The project will be overseen by Anne Glover, Amadeus’ CEO, Professor Christopher Toumazou, Director and Chief Scientist, Research Director Bionics at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial, and Dr Rob Fenton, Research Director at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering.

Commenting on the second Amadeus-Imperial KTP, Anne Glover said: “KTPs are an invaluable sharing of commercial and academic expertise between the two sectors. The cleantech KTP with Imperial added immeasurably to our understanding of the opportunities in that market and we are delighted to be working in partnership with Imperial College again in another important segment of innovation, medtech. We are also delighted to welcome back to the team Manasi, who impressed us greatly last summer.”

Dr Rob Fenton of Imperial College, London, added: “We intend to make the new Institute of Biomedical Engineering one of the leading medtech centres in the world. Our goal is to improve the healthcare of people worldwide by applying state-of-the-art technologies to medicine. The partnership with Amadeus is a wonderful opportunity to get insights into this innovative sector, to understand customers’ needs, to identify new partners and to explore investment opportunities”.

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For further information, please contact:

Chantal Ligertwood, PR for Amadeus, +44 (0)7976 229 210 chantal@ligertwood.net

Dr Rob Fenton, Imperial College London, +44 (0)207 594 1500