Imperial College's chemistry department and the centre for communication systems research at Surrey University have each pocketed Pounds 35,000 to improve infrastructure. They beat other university departments in the science and engineering section of the President's Partnership Prizes, awarded by the Department of Trade and Industry for successful links with industry.
The school of molecular and medical biosciences at the University of Wales, Cardiff, and the department of biochemistry at Imperial College came joint second in the science section, winning Pounds 15,000, while the biomedical engineering group at the University of Leeds came second in the engineering section.