The first sod of a new £2m (€2.6m) state-of-the-art Academic Business and Clinical Research and Innovation Facility (ABC-RIF) at Altnagelvin Hospital, Londonderry was cut this week.

The development will support the research and innovation and generate commercial opportunities in the region and will link the University's research to the clinical expertise within the Western Trust, and focus on improving the general health and well-being of the 290,000 people living in the Western region.

Mayor of Derry City Council, Alderman Drew Thompson, referred to economic advantage saying: "This unique centre aims to reduce both the time to market and the costs associated with research and development of innovative health technologies, medical devices and therapeutics by facilitating clinical research and streamlining new developments from the laboratory to the market place through a focused 'bench to bedside' approach.

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"In addition, commercial opportunities will be created within this unique infrastructure, facilitated by key staff, employed within the facility, to develop and exploit partnerships between academic researcher, clinical practitioners and industry."

Invest NI is providing £1.3m of EU support on behalf of the Special EU Programmes Body under the INTERREG IIIa Programme and a further £464,000 through the Integrated Development Fund (IDF) to support the project. IIex which has a coordinating role for the package of local IDF supported projects, views the project as an important element of its work in regenerating the City of Derry. Additional funding is being provided by Western Trust (£300,000) and Derry City Council (£200,000).

The ABC project was initiated and supported by the North West Science and Technology Partnership. It is expected that the ABC-RIF will have a significant health and economic development impact across the entire North-West and the promoters have already had significant commercial interest in utilising the facility and associated expertise.

(VB/JM)