SINAPSE was awarded £1.12M from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) as part of an £8.1m programme that was announced on 20 April 2010 by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Michael Russell. The SFC programme called SPIRIT involves universities and businesses working together in a series of innovative knowledge exchange projects, ten in total, aimed at key sectors of the Scottish economy. SINAPSE has been awarded the grant to lead on developments in Novel and Collaborative Approaches to Knowledge Exchange in Translational Imaging. Professor Joanna Wardlaw, University of Edinburgh, is the Principal Investigator for this award. The SINAPSE SPIRIT project has 12 industry-partnered PhD studentships starting in October 2010. There are 3 post-doctoral Knowledge Exchange fellowships specifically aimed at developing radiochemistry skills in Scotland to support the three Scottish cyclotrons. Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, said of the SPIRIT programme: "The considerable economic benefits of the impressive projects that will benefit from this funding are beyond doubt. Students benefit from industry expertise and knowledge, informing their research and development, while industry staff will be able to develop their skills no matter what stage their career is at. Our universities have an important role to play in helping us emerge strongly from the current economic downturn. As well as ensuring our people have the skills they need as individuals and to grow our economy, they are also businesses in their own right, generating around £2 billion a year. They support research and development in the business community and attract young people to live and work in Scotland." The industrial partners for the SINAPSE Spirit award are General Electric Healthcare, Siemens Medical, Pfizer, Toshiba Medical Visualization Systems Europe, Propeller Media, Varian, Reneuron, GlaxoSmith- Kline, Molecular Neurolmaging, Digital Learning Foundation, and NHS Lothian.