Latest news with #LordO'Neill
Daily Maverick
19-05-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
The Chelsea Flower Show 2025, and more from around the world
Moving, tragic, surprising, inspiring, terrifying, shocking... This is a selection of images from our planet, over the past three days. Trainee beekeeping student Mandy Topping poses for a photograph at the Randalstown and District Beekeeper's Association apiary set in the private estate of Lord O'Neill at Shane's Castle on May 4, 2025 in Randalstown, Northern Ireland. Conservation Charity Buglife's recent report into the Bee population in Northern Ireland highlighted that many species in the country are in decline, with 21 species set to become extinct without intervention. Northern Ireland's honey bees are under threat due to the absence of a bee inspectorate since last year, according to the Ulster Beekeepers Association (UBKA). The bee inspector is responsible for supporting bee health, external and addresses diseases such as American foulbrood (AFB) and European foulbrood (EFB) which affect honey bees. Although beekeepers are responsible for reporting diseases within their own colonies, bee inspectors confirm notifiable diseases, contain outbreaks, inspect neighbouring hives, and advise on destroying affected colonies. Honeybees are also facing decline due to habitat loss, climate change, including the effects of extreme weather, parasites and diseases. This Tuesday, May 20th marks International World Bee Day. (Photo by). DM
Sky News
09-04-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Aviva joins backers of university spinouts vehicle Northern Gritstone
Aviva, the FTSE-100 insurance group and asset manager, is joining the list of backers ploughing millions of pounds into some of Britain's most promising university spinout companies. Sky News has learnt that Northern Gritstone, which is chaired by the former Treasury minister Lord O'Neill, will announce this week that it has landed £50m in new funding from a syndicate of pension funds and other investors. Sources said £35m of the capital was being provided by Northern LGPS, the collective asset pool of the Greater Manchester, Merseyside and West Yorkshire pension funds, with an additional £15m from Aviva and Fulcrum Asset Management. The funding injection will take Northern Gritstone's total permanent capital base to just over £360m, according to a statement provided by the company in response to an enquiry from Sky News. Since its launch in 2022, Northern Gritstone has invested in dozens of early-stage companies spun out of universities in Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester. As part of the £50m fundraising, Paddy Dowdall, assistant director of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, is joining the Northern Gritstone board as a non-executive director. The vehicle is focused on companies operating in fields such as deeptech and life sciences, including semiconductor design and manufacturing; novel materials; secure computing; AI; healthtech; and gene therapies. "We are very grateful for this further support from investors in our journey to develop world winning businesses in the North of England originating from our university ecosystem and contributing to the future of higher value added activity and the North's productivity," Lord O'Neill said in the statement. Duncan Johnson, Northern Gritstone's chief executive said the fundraising provided evidence of "our ability to create the world-leading businesses of tomorrow based on world-class innovation that exists in the north of England". Its latest raise comes as a number of university spinout ventures in other areas of the UK are struggling to raise sufficient funding to get off the ground. Ben Luckett, managing director, venture and strategic capital at Aviva Investors said: "University spinouts will help power innovation, drive tangible real-world impact, and support the UK to get ready for the future."
