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We aim to support local communities and be a good neighbour
at all our sites. Our community investment activities focus
on local initiatives. The key areas we support are: education,
healthcare, medical research and other local activities such
as environmental conservation, arts and community projects.
In the UK we are a member of Business in the Community’s
PerCent Club. This requires companies to make a minimum community
investment of 1% of UK pre-tax profits. In 2001 we invested
a total of £286,630 in the UK through cash support, staff
time and gifts in kind – equivalent to 2% of our UK derived
pretax profit.
Examples of community investment
- We set up The Amersham Manhattan Disaster Fund following
the tragic events of 11 September 2001. This distributed
$530,000 to 118 families in the communities around our New
Jersey sites.
- Amersham Biosciences supported Science magazine’s annual
prize for young scientists. The grand prize winner in 2000
was Alka Agrowal for her work on the immune system and in
2001, was Song-Hai Shi for his work on memory and learning.
- We support the global Earthwatch conservation organisation
and provide an Earthwatch fellowship as an annual prize
for a UK national schools’ competition.
- We commissioned artist Ivan Riches to develop his work
In-Sight into an interactive educational piece of software,
Imagene, about our products and the science behind them.
- Our staff are very involved in raising money for, and
supporting, good causes in their local communities. UK staff,
with the company’s support, raised £35,000 in 2001 for an
epilepsy charity.
Local community engagement
Many of our sites engage with local communities to discuss
any issues of concern and to inform neighbours of new developments.
Some sites, including Cardiff, publish regular newsletters
for the community. Others have local liaison committees, for
example Amersham, Cardiff and Lindesnes hold regular meetings
with neighbours.
In 2000/2001 the following sites received awards for community
and environmental initiatives:
- Cork in Ireland – Good Neighbour Award from the National
Health and Safety Authority for efforts to promote and raise
safety awareness in neighbouring areas.
- Piscataway in US – Environmental Excellence Award from
Piscataway Township for environmental initiatives.
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