Univ. of Bath Partnership

IP Group PLC
08 September 2006



For immediate release                                           8 September 2006




                                  IP Group plc

                         ('IP Group' or the 'Company')



         IP GROUP SIGNS 25 YEAR PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF BATH



IP Group plc (LSE: IPO), the intellectual property commercialisation company, is
pleased to announce that it has entered into a long-term partnership with the
University of Bath ('Bath').



The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities with an
international reputation for quality research and teaching. In 20 subject areas
the University of Bath is rated in the top ten in the country. Its research,
which covers subjects in science, engineering, social science and the
humanities, is extremely well regarded with around 70 per cent of Bath's
academic staff working in departments that received 5* or 5 rating in the
Research Assessment Exercise. The value of Bath's research portfolio is £76
million



Under the terms of the partnership announced today, IP Group has agreed to work
with Bath to identify and facilitate the formation of spin-out companies and to
invest an initial fund of £5 million in such companies in return for equity
stakes in them.



Where IP Group makes an investment from this fund or where it is otherwise
actively involved in an opportunity, the Company will receive the greater of 20%
of Bath's interest in each spin-out company and 10% of the equity at the time
that the company is established prior to investment. Where IP Group does not
make an investment or where it is not actively involved in an opportunity, the
Company will receive the greater of 10% of Bath's interest in each spin-out
company and 5% of the equity in the spin-out company.



IP Group will also work on licensing opportunities across Bath and will receive
a percentage of any income which Bath receives from licensing during the
lifetime of the partnership. The partnership has a term of 25 years.



Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, said: 'We are excited to have signed
this agreement with Bath which brings the total number of our academic partners
in the UK to nine. It is also the fourth partnership agreement that IP Group has
signed this year, following similar collaborations with Queen Mary, University
of London, the University of York and the University of Surrey. It is also the
second in the region, following last year's agreement with the University of
Bristol. We are extremely excited by the prospects at Bath and are very much
looking forward to working with the team there.'



Professor Glynis M. Breakwell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath, said:
'We are pleased to have signed this agreement with IP Group which has had
considerable success to date in commercialising opportunities in collaboration
with its university partners. Bath has a strong track record of commercialising
its research and this agreement will not only provide additional expertise in
this area but will also offer alternative routes to market.'

The University of Bath collaborates with 140 companies in research programmes,
and the University's Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme portfolio is among
the top five in the UK.

'We have a thriving enterprise culture at the University of Bath.  Working with
IP Group will help to further innovation from the University of Bath's top
research into the marketplace,' said Dr Malcolm Cross, Director of Enterprise
for the University of Bath. 'To date, two University of Bath spin-out companies
have been floated on the Alternative Investment Market, and another two spin-out
companies have been acquired by multinational companies.'

With the completion of the University of Bath's contract, all four universities
of the SETsquared Partnership, the universities of Bath, Bristol, Southampton
and Surrey, are working with IP Group Plc to advance enterprise in southern
England.


For further information, please contact:

IP Group plc                                    020 7489 5200
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer
Liz Vaughan-Adams (communications)              020 7489 5206/07979853802

Buchanan Communications                         020 7466 5000
Mark Court, Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson



Notes for Editors



About IP Group



IP Group Plc is an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company that
specialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Group
listed on AiM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. It
has made two acquisitions to date - Techtran, a company set up to commercialise
university intellectual property under a long term contract with the University
of Leeds, in 2005 and Top Technology Ventures, an investment adviser to early
stage technology venture capital funds, in 2004.



The group has formed long-term partnerships with eight universities - the
University of Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, the
University of Leeds, the University of Bristol, the University of Surrey, the
University of Southampton and Queen Mary, University of London.



As at 30 June 2006, 44 spin-out companies had been created among the group's
university partners. Of those, eight have listed on the AiM market of the London
Stock Exchange and there have been two trade sales.



For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com



About University of Bath



The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities, with an
international reputation for quality research and teaching. The University has
close links with business, with many of its students working for part of their
course in industry. The University also provides services to help new
businesses, and its research is the basis for several successful spin-off
companies. View a full list of the University's press releases: http://
www.bath.ac.uk/news/releases/.



About SETsquared

The SETsquared Partnership brings together the enterprise activities of the
Universities of Bath, Bristol, Southampton and Surrey. With 8% of the UK's
research budget, the Partnership is situated in one of the strongest economic
areas. A proven leader in the development of the UK's knowledge economy and the
UK's largest collective of 6,500 researchers, the SETsquared Partnership
advances enterprise in the UK.  The SETsquared Partnership:

  • develops new businesses from university research ('spin-outs') and
    supports technology companies from the wider business community
  • collaborates with industry, providing access to university expertise and
    facilities, and
  • prepares new entrepreneurs with the business skills to be the UK's
    enterprise generation.

For more information, please visit our website at
www.setsquaredpartnership.co.uk.



ENDS


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange