University sets a record

A RECORD number of companies have been created by Edinburgh University in the past year.

The university formed 40 new firms in the 2009-10 academic year compared with 26 new companies in 2008-9.

The figure represents the most ever generated by a Scottish university in a single year.

New companies created by Edinburgh Research and Innovation (ERI) - the university's commercialisation arm - in the past year include NGenTec, which creates lightweight gearboxes for wind turbines, potentially making wind power generation more efficient.

The company recently won an 800,000 contract from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The 40 firms formed in the past year have together secured over 3 million in funding.