Transcript Document

Growing Competitiveness
through support for Innovation,
Research and Development
Professor Tim Cook, Oxford University
Managing Director, Isis Innovation
Visiting Professor in Science Entrepreneurship
Said Business School, Oxford
Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
Economic contribution from higher education
What are universities really for?
The challenge of cross-cultural communication
Catalysts to support technology transfer
UK Higher Education generates
> 350 000 jobs directly (300 000 full time equivalent)
> For every 100 Higher Education jobs 89 generated are from
knock on effects
> 560 000 f.t.e. jobs through direct and knock-on effects
> 2.7% of UK workforce in employment
> €53 billion of output
http://bookshop.universitiesuk.ac.uk/downloads/economicimpact.pdf
Rounded figures!
What are Universities for?
> Research & Teaching
> The creation and transmission of knowledge
> These both have a major economic impact
> Creative thinkers (in science, arts and humanities)
> A workforce trained in some useful areas
> But not all useful areas!
University Innovations
> Range from inventions & new processes to new
philosophies & political thought
> Most of this talk is about the former but let’s not forget
the others
They may well have a more profound long-term impact on our lives
The third stream
> Since 1997 UK national government has become
increasingly aware of a very useful by-product from
universities
> The so called third arm, third leg, third stream
> I.e. inventions with commercial potential
Before 1997
> 1950 Treasury Circular 5/50 (TC5/50)
> Government claims rights to Intellectual Property from publicly
funded research
> 1985 Thatcher Government rescinds TC5/50.
> Universities that can commercialise IP will own inventions
funded by the taxpayer
> Universities were free to commercialise
> But no public resources available
> Odd scattered initiatives but not much money
Since 1997
> Increased government support
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
1997 Biotechnology Exploitation Platforms
Mar 98 University Challenge Seed Funds
Feb 99 University Science Enterprise Centres
Jun 99 Higher Education Reach-out to Business
Dec 01 Higher Education Innovation Fund 1
Dec 03 Higher Education Innovation Fund 2
Mar 06 Higher Education Innovation Fund 3
€75m
€45m
€132m
€120m
€300m (2 years)
€357m (2 years)
U.K. tech transfer 1982 - 2000
> 1982
> Universities started to open technology transfer offices
> 1995 onwards
> Steady rise in technology transfer
> Change of government 1997
> By 2000
> Majority of institutions had dedicated personnel (1>36)
> Most have a tech transfer office or company
> 90 belong to UNICO – www.UNICO.org.uk
> Some belong to AUTM - www.AUTM.net
Isis Innovation 1997 - 2006
Y/E Mar
1997 1998 1999 2000
2001
2002
University
investment
£m p.a.
£0.04
£0.3
£0.5
£1.0
£1.0
£1.0
3
9
9
17
21
23
168
243
319
415
31
51
55
8
18
21
Staff
Projects
Patents filed
Licence
4
1
OGT
2
3
6
Opsys
Prolysis Oxxon
Synaptica Celoxica Dash
Avidex Oxonica
Abington
OMIA
ThirdPhase
OxLoc
Ox Bee Co
2006
£1.2
£1.2
34
36
36
33
476
629
725
764
784
63
82
65
52
55
50
36
42
37
31
38
44
34
50
48
51
7
3
4
6
8
Mindweavers
BioSensors
Biosignals
TolerRx
OXIVA
PharmaDM
Minervation
Spinox
8
£1.0
2004 2005
£1.0
Consultancy
Companies
Started with
Isis support
2003
Ox Ancestors Zyentia
ReOx
Novarc
Oxitec
Riotech
Ox ArchDigital Immunote OCSI
NaturalMotion ORRA
Inhibox
Glycoform
Pharminox
BioAnalab
VASTox
OMD
G-Nostics
Surface T
EKB
Ox. Nanolab
RF Sensors
Oxbr. Pulsars
Ox. Catalysts
Celleron
TdS
Isis staff, spinouts, licences & consultancies
300
70
279
Isis Staff
Cumulative licences
Cumulative consulting
Cumulative newcos
250
60
48
50
183
40
33
150
30
100
20
50
10
0
0
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
Year to March 31st
UCSF
FSMA
2004
2005
2006
Staff, Spinouts
Licences, Consultancies
200
Oxford University Economic Impact
> 8% of Oxfordshire’s employment
> University colleges and students inject
> €723 000 p.a. into local economy
> €411 000 p.a. local disposable income
Universities Inventions are not new
> Over the years there have been lots of useful
inventions from universities:
> Cephalosporin came out of Oxford just after the war
> Monoclonal antibodies from Cambridge
> What is new is the increasing effort and resource
being spent on maximising the transfer of ideas
Maximising Economic Impact
> If we accept that university innovations are a
resource for economic development and
> This resource is currently underutilised
> It might be useful to look at why
> and what we can do about it
The Challenge
Commerce
Researcher
> Driven by external needs
> Clear goals with
shareholder commitments
> Commercial confidentiality
> Self directed
> Next step defined by
yesterdays results
> Free exchange of ideas
“Academics never deliver”
“Industry is out to cheat us”
So we can expect it will be challenging to
build a mutually trusting relationship
Orthogonal Value Sets
2D Intermediary
Commercial axis
Research ->
Products
Licence
Academic
£ ->Research
axis
Requirements for intermediaries
> Must understand both value systems
> Ideally should have lived in both
> Must be fluent in both vocabularies
> And able to translate
> Must be trusted by both sides
> So the academics will risk “being cheated”
> And the industrialists will risk “having their time wasted”
Sources of intermediaries
> University technology transfer offices
> As long as they employ bilingual staff
> Diplomatically adept property owners
> Science parks, private developers
> Public sector (government officers)
> If they really do understand both values systems
> The Professionals
> Accountants, lawyers, consultants, investors, etc.
> As long as they can suspend their self-interest long enough for
the creative interactions to start
> Divisive advisors inhibit the process
> Protect their client and kill the deal
The difficulty
> In the long term it is in everybody’s interest
But
> In the short term the costs are from a single party
An additional challenge
> If we are talking about spinout companies rather
than consultancy or licensing there is a third axis
> In addition to academia and industry there are
investors
> Investors are not the same as industrialists
The third axis
2D Intermediary
Commercial axis
Research ->
Products
Licence
3D
Intermediary
Spin
-out
Academic
£ ->Research
axis
Investor axis
£ -> £££
Conclusions
> More commercial benefits can be extracted from
Universities
> But let us not turn universities into contract research companies
> Its worthwhile teaching academics about industry and
teaching industry about universities
> So they can communicate constructively but..
> It is generally a waste of academics to turn them into industrialists &
> It is generally a waste of industrialists to turn them into academics
> Multi-lingual intermediaries make a difference
> Positive if they are competent
> Negative if they are not competent
> Science parks & intermediaries can contribute to this
interface and benefit from it
Contacts
Isis Innovation Ltd
Ewert House
Ewert Place
Summertown
Oxford OX2 7SG
T 01865 280830
F 01865 280831
E [email protected]
www.isis-innovation.com