PROFESSOR Tony Robards, the man at the centre of York's bio-tech boom, was today celebrating after receiving the insignia of the OBE from the Queen.

The pro vice-chancellor of external relations at York University received his award at Buckingham Palace yesterday "for services to higher education arising from his work in linking the university to external business activities".

Tonight he will be a guest at a gala dinner in London which will demonstrate just how powerful his drive to lure the best to York Science Park can be.

More than 100 top business executives will converge on the famous Savile Club to celebrate the arrival in the UK of Enlightened Technologies Associates Inc, of Fairfax County, Virginia.

The hi-tech firm which, as reported in the Evening Press last week, is perfecting spectacles which can cure winter depression and jetlag, was winner of the Touchdown competition organised by Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA). Its prize: A European outpost at York Science Park's Innovation Centre.

Prof Robards said: "It is especially pleasing to feel that it reflects, yet again, recognition of the increasingly-important role that the University of York plays in serving its local community as well as acting as an engine of economic development."

He said: "York stands on the brink of re-establishing its former greatness, not through its heritage alone but also through its dynamic entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thrust."

Updated: 11:42 Wednesday, November 13, 2002