The John Innes Centre won the BBSRC’s Excellence with Impact award at the Fostering Innovation Gala award ceremony last night.  This is the culmination of a three-year journey to strengthen the Impact culture within the John Innes Centre.

We are honoured to have been selected from 30 leading BBSRC funded institutions with such strong impact credentials.

The award was presented by Professor Nessa Carey, Director of International at PraxisUnico. She complimented the John Innes Centre on “delivering the greatest transformation in organisational culture”. In his acceptance speech, the Deputy Director of the John Innes Centre, professor Mike Bevan celebrated the progress catalysed by the competition and the long term support from the BBSRC.

This is the culmination of a three-year project which had driven culture change throughout the institute, with new systems for public dialogue, for engaging with industry, for inspiring school children and for furthering impact outside the UK.

Director of the John Innes Centre, Professor Dale Sanders said, “This prize is testament to the enthusiasm and passion of our scientists and their desire to realise the impact from JIC research. In addition to delivering excellent world-leading science, we must ensure our work translates into tangible benefits for the economy and society.”

The £500,000 competition prize will go towards furthering scientific impact in Africa with our regional research partners, including Biosciences east and central Africa (BecA).

Professor Sanders added, “The opportunity to work with excellent African scientists will create long term relationships that build a shared understanding of the challenges for agriculture in Africa and the important role of science in addressing those challenges.”