FWB Park Brown & OGIC Innovation Funding Dinner …

As part of a series of discussions focused on innovation and collaboration in the Oil and Gas sector, FWB Park Brown and the Oil and Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC) jointly hosted a dinner in Aberdeen to debate current innovation funding models.  The dinner was attended by oil and gas Private Equity, Corporate Finance, Corporate Venture and Technology Company leaders, all keen to explore how best to continue to foster innovation investment and deal flow in the sector.  The Chief Executive of OGIC, Ian Phillips, set the scene by explaining current government funding bodies and grants and challenged the gathering to consider the Rice Alliance and Houston Technology Centre as potential models to emulate in the UK.  The discussion after dinner explored the experience of Technology Company CEO’s in securing innovation grants as part of the technology funding mix and how the investment community, together with Oil company Corporate Ventures teams, could potentially collaborate in a ‘Houston Technology Centre’ type investment venture.