Klein Medical is another high-tech company that is the beneficiary of the first Co-investment Programme funding round. It is developing a drug verification system to reduce the chance of intravenous medication errors. Initially Klein Medical worked with IRL to scientifically validate the suitability of spectroscopy to verify intravenous drugs. It has used the Co-investment fund to clarify the development pathway and test prototypes.

Klein Medical Managing Director Greg Shanahan says the Co-Investment Programme has allowed the company to take the product further and make more progress with the money available.

"Seeking outside investors for a pre-commercial product is quite difficult especially for scientifically based high risk projects," Shanahan says. "We were incredibly grateful for the capability to do more with the money we had".

"IRL is not just a contractor for us-we don't say "Here's a part, could you test it?- it's a partnership on technology development," he says."