In addition to help with financing and other operational matters that Centre provides, it also offers its portfolio company management teams access to its Centre Operating Partners, or COPs, a group of current and former top-level executives that can offer industry-specific expertise and often take board roles.

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The distribution centre will be fully operational by October serving Co-op food stores in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

BBC: Opening for new ?22m Co-op centre in Derbyshire

The distribution centre is expected to be fully operational during 2013.

BBC: Co-op building ?22m distribution depot in Derbyshire

The first two, KOERI in Turkey and the Atomic Energy Centre in France, should be operational some time in 2012 when a more exhaustive test will be conducted.

UNESCO: EDUCATION

With the success of TES, the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore will embark on manufacturing operational remote sensing satellites that can double as spy satellites.

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The company said that if the funding bid was successful the new centre, equipped with the latest chemistry, biochemistry and testing resources, would be operational by 2012.

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