��Ī - commercialisation

��Ī researchers awarded ERC funding to support commercial potential of their work

sc604 — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:05:46 +0000

Professor Cecilia Mascolo from the Department of Computer Science and Technology will use the funding to further her work on developing mobile devices – like commercially-available earbuds – that can accurately pick up wearers’ body sounds and monitor them for health purposes.

The ERC Proof of Concept grants – worth €150,000 – help researchers bridge the gap between the discoveries stemming from their frontier research and the practical application of the findings, including the early phases of their commercialisation.

Researchers use this type of funding to verify the practical viability of scientific concepts, explore business opportunities or prepare patent applications.

Mascolo’s existing ERC-funded Project EAR was the first to demonstrate that the existing microphones in earbuds can be used to pick up wearers’ levels of activity and heart rate and to trace it accurately even when the wearer is exercising vigorously.

She now wants to build on this work by enhancing the robustness of these in-ear microphones and further improve their performance in monitoring human activity and physiology in 'real life' conditions, including by developing new algorithms to help the devices analyse the data they are collecting.

“There are currently no solutions on the market that use audio devices to detect body function signals like this and they could play an extremely valuable role in health monitoring,” said Mascolo. “Because the devices’ hardware, computing needs and energy consumption are inexpensive, they could put body function monitoring into the hands of the world's population accurately and affordably.”

Professor Manish Chhowalla from the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy was awarded a Proof of Concept Grant to demonstrate large-scale and high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.

“Our breakthrough in lithium-sulphur batteries demonstrates a future beyond lithium-ion batteries; moving away from the reliance on critical raw materials and enabling the electrification of fundamentally new applications such as aviation,” said Dr Ismail Sami, Research Fellow in Chhowalla’s group. “This Proof of Concept will help us take the essential commercial and technical steps in bringing our innovation to market.”

��Ī researchers have been awarded Proof of Concept grants from the European Research Council (ERC), to help them explore the commercial or societal potential of their research. The funding is part of the EU's research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe.

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Left: Cecilia Mascolo, Right: Ismail Sami

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��Ī Enterprise celebrates a year of innovation and economic growth

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 07:01:00 +0000

With 304 patent applications filed, 144 licences executed, a record 441 consultancy contracts signed, and a seed fund portfolio valuation at an all-time high of £124 million, ��Ī Enterprise is helping the University deliver real impact.

��Ī Enterprise’s contribution to the UK economy through innovation is part of the wider financial impact of the ��Ī – which, according to a recent London Economics report, contributes almost £30 billion to the UK economy. Over 77% of this total contribution is the result of commercialisation of knowledge transfer activities.

Last year ��Ī Enterprise returned over £20 million to the University and its departments – supporting the development of an entrepreneurial culture and re-investing in research and education. The scale of these returns affirms the crucial role of ��Ī Enterprise in fuelling innovation on behalf of the University, and demonstrates the overall success of ��Ī Enterprise’s activity.

It has been a year for demonstrating the value and potential of University research commercialisation activities. ��Ī Enterprise also played a leading role in the publication of the TenU University Spin Out Investment Terms (USIT) guide. The guide was developed in partnership with six leading university technology transfer offices and a number of leading venture capital firms and represented the first joint commitment of both the university sector and venture capitalist community. The guide sets out a landing zone for University led spin out deals and will be a critical tool in transforming research commercialisation in the UK, speeding up negotiations and attracting greater levels of investment.

In partnership with ��Ī Innovation Capital and the ��Ī, ��Ī Enterprise has also this year led to the creation of Innovate ��Ī – a new initiative to develop an inclusive, forward-looking and ambitious vision for the future of ��Ī and its innovation ecosystem. More than one hundred organisations have pledged their support by signing the Innovate ��Ī Charter, which promotes collaboration, enhancement, and the development of ecosystem-wide initiatives to realise the shared vision. Through the University Enterprise Network, ��Ī Enterprise has additionally established a new IE ��Ī initiative, which aims to make it easier for those who are interested in the ��Ī innovation space to navigate and engage meaningfully with existing activity.

Other standout moments for ��Ī Enterprise this year include:

The acquisition of portfolio company Gyroscope Therapeutics – a company ��Ī Enterprise has supported since its initial IP disclosure - by Novartis Pharmaceuticals for an impressive sum of up to $1.5 billion.
£50 million Series B funding round secured by portfolio company Nyobolt, propelling the company's mission in sustainable energy storage, and scaling up manufacturing operations.
A new Commercialisation of Research out of Social Science (CRoSS) initiative in partnership with the University’s Social Sciences Impact team, funded by the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council, inspiring novel approaches to social sciences commercialisation.
The ongoing success of DigiVis, an innovative software to self-administer eye tests and improve medical support for eye care, the copyright of which was licensed by ��Ī Enterprise to ��Ī Medical Innovation Limited.
Ongoing work to tackling the innovation gap needed to achieve Net Zero with a newly launched Sustainability Initiative, as part of the University’s leadership on and commitment to Net Zero.
A total of £10.6 million invested in 34 spin outs in the last financial year.

There has been much to celebrate this year. Universities have long been bastions of optimism and innovation, continuously seeking solutions to global challenges. ��Ī Enterprise is unwavering in its commitment to translating these solutions into real-world impact, benefitting both the economy and the broader society. With the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and the convergence of physical and digital worlds, the coming decade is poised to be more disruptive than ever. ��Ī Enterprise will therefore seek to increase the impact and influence of University research, acknowledging the urgency for these transformative technologies and supporting the thriving UK innovation ecosystem.

Read the Annual Review 2022 online

Adapted from a press release from ��Ī Enterprise

��Ī Enterprise, the research commercialisation arm of the ��Ī, marked its 15th anniversary with a remarkable series of achievements.

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Nyobolt battery

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��Ī recognised for its leadership in knowledge exchange

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 11:05:29 +0000

��Ī secured the highest performance scores in many areas of knowledge exchange, with very high engagement for intellectual property (IP) commercialisation, research partnerships, working with business, and working with the public and third sectors.

The KEF provides a range of information about the knowledge exchange activities of English higher education institutions – in other words, how each institution works with external partners, from businesses to community groups, for the benefit of the economy and society.

When compared with its peer group in cluster ‘V’ (very large, research-intensive universities), ��Ī shows:

very high engagement for research partnerships, as measured by co-authorship with non-academic partners and contributions to collaborative research
very high engagement for IP and commercialisation, and working with business
very high engagement for working with the public and third sector, as measured by income from contract research, consultancy and the provision of facilities and equipment services to these partners
high engagement for public and community engagement in line with the cluster average.

Professor Andy Neely, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Relations at ��Ī, said: “The ��Ī has a fantastically rich knowledge exchange ecosystem. Here, unique and constantly-evolving support systems, physical spaces and development opportunities exist to enable the pursuit, dissemination and application of world-leading research and knowledge for the benefit of society.

“This ecosystem, together with productive relationships with our industry partners, many of them stretching back over decades with a shared history of innovation, and the many opportunities for public engagement, helps ensure that ��Ī is a vibrant and welcoming place for knowledge exchange.”

Dr Karen Kennedy, Director of the Strategic Partnerships Office, added: “By working in partnership with businesses and other organisations, we are able to turn our research into new technologies, therapeutics and applications that will make a positive difference to people’s lives, both in the UK and around the world. The KEF has an important role to play in highlighting the value of such collaborations and we are delighted that ��Ī has been recognised for its strength in this regard.”

Partnerships

Combining expertise at the ��Ī with the insights, resources and capabilities of commercial partners enhances the ability to change lives through, for example, pioneering new cures for disease, making breakthroughs in energy transition and shaping a more sustainable, more equitable future.

This has led, for instance, to the launch of the ��Ī Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine in partnership with AstraZeneca and GSK, the creation of a recruitment programme for neurodiverse individuals in partnership with Aviva, and a partnership with KPMG to look at the future of work, starting with mental wellbeing.

With support from ��Ī Zero, which aims to maximise the University’s contribution towards achieving a resilient and sustainable zero-carbon world, work has been ongoing to establish broad academic–industry networks to promote wider collaborations in key decarbonisation challenge areas. In addition, a partnership with South Korean investment group WP Investment Company (WPIC) is seeking to progress research in sustainable energy systems, particularly the production of lithium and its use in batteries for electric vehicles.

Commercialisation

��Ī scored highly for its IP commercialisation, in part because of work done by ��Ī Enterprise, the University’s commercialisation arm. ��Ī Enterprise works with academics to protect, develop and move innovations based on University research toward the market. Early stage innovations are licensed to existing companies for development or spun out as new companies. The goal is getting early stage ideas out of labs and into use, for the benefit of society and the economy.

Dr Diarmuid O'Brien, Chief Executive of ��Ī Enterprise, said: “University research and innovation have a vital role to play in confronting huge global challenges such as climate change. That is our mission, to help the University’s researchers bring positive change to the world through their research.”

In the financial year 2020-2021, ��Ī Enterprise approved £5.7m of investments in 21 companies, 7 of which were at seed stage. Among these were three companies developing new technologies focused on reducing carbon emissions – Nyobolt, Echion Technologies and Carbon Re. These three companies collectively raised over £20 million of investment and are helping to move the world to a more sustainable future.

��Ī Enterprise is part of an extensive support infrastructure that helps postdocs, academics and staff plan, launch and fund successful ventures. ��Ī Enterprise and the Entrepreneurial Postdocs of ��Ī, for instance, together run an annual Postdoc Business Plan Competition designed to help accelerate the creation of businesses based on ��Ī research.

Now in its eighth year, the competition has led 73 teams through a programme of training, mentoring and business plan iteration. These 73 teams have gone on to raise over £69 million in investment. Among the winners of the competition is Dr Giorgia Longobardi (pictured), whose spin-out ��Ī GaN Devices has developed a range of power devices using the energy-efficient semiconductor gallium nitride, heralding a new era of greener electronics. The £20,000 first prize in 2016 was invested in, and helped accelerate, the company.

Public engagement

The University’s public engagement activities were also rated highly. Public engagement fulfils the University’s mission by creating bridges between researchers and the public, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Partnerships with civic organisations, charities, and arts and community groups help build and maintain relationships with our local communities.

Dr Lucinda Spokes, Head of Public Engagement, said: “Training and advice underpins everything we do. This provides researchers with the skills and confidence to work collaboratively with their communities and stakeholders sharing expertise to co-produce knowledge, improve research outcomes and deliver wider societal benefit.”

��Ī Museums and Botanic Garden (UCM), along with the flagship ��Ī Festival, open up the University's research and Collections to all, with over one million people visiting exhibitions, talks and activities each year. UCM enables significant contributions to connecting with some of the most vulnerable communities, reducing loneliness, enhancing health and wellbeing, and supporting the development of children and young people.

Digital public engagement, driven by necessity at the start of the pandemic, provided the University with new ways to engage with people both locally and globally. Since 2021, digital engagement as part of the ��Ī Festival has resulted in over 150K views of research-led content by audiences in over 170 countries.

KEF

The KEF has been developed by Research England, a public body who fund Higher Education Institutions to undertake research and knowledge exchange.

David Sweeney CBE, Executive Chair of Research England, said: “Knowledge exchange is integral to the mission and purpose of our universities, and its importance in contributing to societal and economic prosperity is strongly supported by the Government.

“Today’s new version of the Knowledge Exchange Framework takes further forward the vision and potential of KE activity, providing richer evidence to demonstrate universities’ strengths in different areas when set alongside their peers.”

��Ī’s leadership in knowledge exchange has been recognised in the Knowledge Exchange Framework 2 (KEF2) results, published by Research England on 27 September 2022.

“The ��Ī has a fantastically rich knowledge exchange ecosystem. Here, unique and constantly-evolving support systems, physical spaces and development opportunities exist to enable the pursuit, dissemination and application of world-leading research and knowledge for the benefit of society"

Andy Neely

StillVision

Dr Giorgia Longobardi, winner of a ��Ī Enterprise Postdoc Business Plan Competition

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©��Ī and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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New Head at ��Ī Enterprise Seed Funds

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 15:19:31 +0000

Christine has served as Interim Head of Seed Funds since February 2021. She brings a broad range of experience to the role, drawing particularly on previous positions within ��Ī Enterprise. These include having been Deputy Head of Seed Funds and Technology Transfer Manager for Drug Discovery. Prior to joining ��Ī Enterprise, Christine was a Senior Director at Biotica Technology Ltd. Christine holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Oxford.

The work of the Seed Funds team is central to ��Ī Enterprise’s ambition to create societal and economic impact from research at the ��Ī. Seed Funds identifies and invests in new companies formed to realise opportunities arising from the £600 million of research funding invested across the University annually.

Over the last decade ��Ī Enterprise Seed Funds has established a portfolio of over 125 companies that have, in turn, raised in excess of £2.7 billion. ��Ī Enterprise Seed Funds has an excellent track record, with 12% internal rate of return over both five- and ten-year terms. Having started with £8 million, the combined portfolio is now valued at £107 million.

Christine starts her new role having successfully raised £30 million of new investment from the ��Ī. She has an ambitious vision for the journey ahead, with an expansive remit to extend and enhance the investment outcomes on behalf of the University.

Christine takes over as Head of Seed Funds from Dr Anne Dobrée, who oversaw the dramatic and successful growth of the portfolio since 2011. Anne moves into a newly-formed role at ��Ī Enterprise as Director of Programming, with responsibility for developing new innovation deal flows from within the University.

About ��Ī Enterprise

Part of the ��Ī, ��Ī Enterprise supports academics, researchers, staff and students in achieving knowledge transfer and research impact through commercialisation, consultancy and social enterprise.

This news story was first published on ��Ī Enterprise's website on 06 April 2022.

��Ī Enterprise, the commercialisation arm of the ��Ī, has announced the appointment of Dr Christine Martin as Head of Seed Funds.

Yes

Inflatable, shape-changing spinal implants could help treat severe pain

sc604 — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 17:14:34 +0000

A team of engineers and clinicians has developed an ultra-thin, inflatable device that can be used to treat the most severe forms of pain without the need for invasive surgery.

Beyond the pandemic: put universities at the heart of an innovation-led recovery

lw355 — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 11:30:23 +0000

Universities have stepped up to meet the challenges presented by the pandemic. Tomas Ulrichsen, an expert on universities and their role in innovation systems, argues that the UK must protect its R&D and innovation capabilities in the short term, and build on these strengths for the future.

Two new initiatives to boost economic value from university research

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 08:00:00 +0000

The grants, from the Research England Development (RED) Fund, will support two new programmes: TenU and a new Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation (UCI), which will be based at ��Ī’s Institute for Manufacturing (IfM).

TenU will bring together the heads of technology transfer offices (TTOs) from ten of the world’s leading universities to share expertise and experience to develop, improve, and disseminate best practice in research commercialisation. UCI will undertake research to create the evidence base for informing research commercialisation policy for government and universities. The two groups will work closely in areas of mutual interest.

Research from the TenU universities has led to world-changing innovations such as rapid whole-genome sequencing, the page rank algorithm technology that became the basis for Google, the world’s first artificial vaccine against viral hepatitis B, fibre optics, one of the most widely used medications for HIV treatment, and programmed T cell therapies.

As countries work to rebuild their economies in the wake of COVID-19, university TTOs will play a critical role in turning early-stage, research-based innovations into new products and services across different sectors. In the UK, the Industrial Strategy has identified universities as key drivers of innovation.

“We welcome this vital support from Research England, which enables us to continue to share, compare, and advance international best practice in university research commercialisation for the benefit of our economies and societies locally, nationally, and globally,” said Tony Raven, CEO of ��Ī Enterprise, the ��Ī’s commercialisation arm.

Apart from ��Ī, the other members of TenU are Columbia, Edinburgh, Imperial College London, Leuven, Manchester, MIT, Stanford, Oxford, and University College London.

The Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation (UCI), based at ��Ī’s Institute for Manufacturing, will help to drive a step change in universities’ contributions to delivering increased R&D and innovation in the UK.

The new unit will be developed in partnership with the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (CSTI) and the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB). It will support the needs of government departments, funding agencies, and universities for better data, evidence, and expert insights, to develop more effective approaches for university commercialisation and innovation.

The needs for better evidence are growing as we move from the immediate COVID-19 crisis into the longer-term economic recovery period, and as the government looks to maximise the value realised from its investment in the research base. Universities need to find new ways of working with businesses, investors and others to open up opportunities, address emerging innovation challenges, and improve productivity. To unlock this potential, governments will have to adapt policies and funding programmes to become key enabling partners in this process.

Working closely with key stakeholders, UCI will initially focus on three areas:

Developing an evidence base on how the COVID-19 induced economic crisis is affecting universities’ abilities to contribute to innovation and identify possible actions to ensure they are able to play a strategic and active role in the national economic recovery.
Improving our understanding of the research-to-innovation commercialisation journeys and examine how policies and university practices could be strengthened to deliver increased value to the UK.
Advancing the data and metrics available to better capture the performance of universities in delivering economic and social impacts through their commercialisation activities to facilitate more effective benchmarking and evaluation of performance.

Tomas Ulrichsen, Director of the new Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation, said: “I am delighted to bring expertise from CSTI, the ��Ī, and NCUB together to establish this important new policy evidence unit. The grant from the Research England Development Fund will enable us to support policymakers, funders, and universities with better and more targeted evidence and expert insight, to consider how to build on and adapt their approaches to university-driven commercialisation and innovation. This will help economies across the UK recover, reconfigure, and thrive through the economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“In line with the UK Government’s R&D Roadmap, Research England as part of UK Research and Innovation needs to demonstrate we are world class at securing economic and social benefits from research,” said David Sweeney, Executive Chair of Research England. “University technology transfer is at the heart of that. Research England funding for TenU will help showcase best practice at the global cutting edge, with the new UCI policy unit providing critical evidence and metrics. We look forward to deepening these international links.”

Research England has awarded two grants, totalling £1.5 million, to support programmes working to increase the economic value and social impacts from university research, both in the UK and internationally. The funds will be administered by the ��Ī.

Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash

Look up

Yes

UK and US firms ‘lag’ in race to commercialise COVID-19 diagnostic tests

fpjl2 — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 10:47:02 +0000

Nations with high rates of coronavirus testing such as South Korea and Germany are also leading the world in commercialising COVID-19 diagnostic tests – far outstripping the domestic UK and US diagnostic industries, new research shows.

Researchers also argue that lax EU regulations for diagnostic devices could make the region a “dumping ground for poor quality tests”.

A team from the ��Ī’s Department of Sociology has produced what they say may be the most comprehensive global dataset of companies developing molecular diagnostic tests for COVID-19.

They found that 88% of South Korean firms working on COVID-19, and 80% of those in Germany, now have tests either on the market or ready to be rolled out. In the UK, just 54% of firms developing COVID-19 tests have a commercialised product. The US also lags behind at 67%.

China has 93 diagnostic firms working on COVID-19, the overall highest number, 90% of which have commercialised tests.

The latest analysis is available on a website set up by CancerScreen, a ��Ī research project funded by the European Research Council on the political economy of diagnostic innovation.

“The COVID-19 testing strategies adopted by different countries are now under intense public scrutiny,” said Dr Stuart Hogarth, who leads the research.

“The UK and US have been criticised for failing to ramp up capacity compared to places such as Germany and South Korea. We can see this playing out in the global molecular diagnostics industry.”

Building on previous work, the CancerScreen team have trawled media coverage and drawn on lists of COVID-19 tests from organisations such as the Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics (FIND) and the UK National Institutes for Health Research (NIHR) Innovation Lab.

They now have 303 firms in their dataset of COVID-19 molecular diagnostics firms and their main database has increased to 830 firms.

The Asia Pacific region already dominated the global industry, with 40% of all molecular diagnostics manufacturers, compared to 29% in the US and 28% in Europe. In terms of the COVID-19 market, Asia Pacific is even more dominant, with 55% of all firms.

The region is also ahead when it comes to commercialising COVID-19 tests. In Asia Pacific 90% of firms have a test on the market, compared to 78% in Europe and 67% in the US.

“The lag is striking because it mirrors the spread of the pandemic, starting in Asia Pacific and then moving to Europe and North America,” said Hogarth. “It suggests that firms in the US and Europe could have responded more quickly when the pandemic began.”

He points out that some of the countries with an effective commercialisation response to COVID-19 diagnostic testing needs are those where there is a strong relationship between the state and manufacturing sector.

“A country like South Korea exemplifies a pattern of industrialisation in which the state directs economic development,” said Hogarth.

“Our data suggests that strong leadership by the national government plays a role in industry responsiveness, at least at the extremes of leaders and laggards,” he said.

There are also important distinctions between regions and nations when it comes to the pace and nature of regulatory approval, says Hogarth: “Although most countries have put in place fast-track emergency approval mechanisms, the European Union already had a very low barrier to market entry.”

He points out that the ‘CE-mark’ – indicating a test complies with EU regulations – is self-certified by nearly all types of diagnostic tests manufacturers: the firm simply awards itself a CE-mark.

“The lack of regulatory scrutiny makes the EU an attractive market for firms,” said Hogarth. The CancerScreen research shows there are 50% more Chinese firms with CE-marks for the EU market than actually have approval in China itself, a pattern that is almost identical in South Korea.

Some 62 firms across China, South Korea and Singapore, as well as the US, currently export CE-marked COVID-19 tests to the EU. In China, South Korea and the US, the position is reversed: most firms with approved tests are domestic.

Meanwhile, only South Korean firms have approval in South Korea, very few firms that are not Chinese have approval in China, and this trend is replicated in the US.

Last week, the New York Times reported that the UK government bought two million kits for detecting antibodies for the coronavirus from two Chinese companies, only to find them ineffective.

“If the EU is to avoid becoming a dumping ground for poor quality tests, then further action must be taken,” said Hogarth. “That is already happening at a national level, as individual member states are forced to undertake post-market evaluation to assess the quality of tests to inform their procurement decisions.”

“Over the last few days the European Commission has begun to establish a more active role as a coordinating body and I welcome that very important development.”

The CancerScreen team is now working in collaboration with FIND to gather more data on the industry response to COVID-19 and Hogarth hopes to build links with the NIHR Innovation Lab for future work.

Added Hogarth: “It is important to share resources and expertise. FIND and NIHR have the definitive lists because they have data on immunoassays, as well as molecular diagnostics, but our strength is our broader understanding of the molecular diagnostics sector that we have developed over many years.”

The diagnostic industry in countries such as Germany, South Korea and China lead the pack on getting coronavirus tests ready for market. Researchers warn that lax EU regulations could see it become a “dumping ground” for bad tests.

The lag is striking because it mirrors the spread of the pandemic

Stuart Hogarth

Senior Airman Rhett Isbell

COVID-19 testing at Kadena Air Base, Japan

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�������������Ī - commercialisation

�������������Ī researchers awarded ERC funding to support commercial potential of their work

�������������Ī Enterprise celebrates a year of innovation and economic growth

�������������Ī recognised for its leadership in knowledge exchange

New Head at �������������Ī Enterprise Seed Funds

About �������������Ī Enterprise