Transcript Brian Graves Head of Physical Sciences and Engineering

New Enterprise
Dominique Kleyn
27th June 2003
Overview of Innovations
• Technology transfer arm of Imperial
• Aim to maximise the value returned to
Imperial from the commercialisation of
intellectual assets and to support the
attraction and retention of quality
academic staff
• Transparent and equitable process to
make money for the College and
reward inventors
Experience & Diversity
• Working with 150 inventions per year
• Filing 1 new patent per week
• Extensive industrial experience
• Established licensing and spin-out
processes
• Interdisciplinary working
Successes at Imperial
• Drug development eg Remicade,
Temezolamide, Malavone
• Spin-out listing eg Turbogenset
• Portfolio sale eg Fleming
• Seed funding eg University Challenge
• Co-investment eg Nikko
Early years
• DTI headcount support (£750k)
• Create Company Maker, establish spinout process, build support networks
• University Challenge Seed Fund (£4m)
• 2 tier investments, external advisory
committee, rigorous assessment process
• Science Enterprise Challenge (£2m)
• Entrepreneurship Centre established,
entrepreneurs programme introduced
Period of growth
• Rapid formation of spin-outs
• Rapid growth of Innovations team
• increases from 5 to 25 FTE
• New finance initiatives
• NIKKO – extending UCSF
• Fleming – realising equity
• Paul Capital - royalty sale
Innovations 1997 to 2002
Spin-outs formed
53
Licence income
circa £7.1m
Development income
circa £15m
Equity realisation
circa £20m
Finance raised
Spin-out jobs
£136m+
500+
Innovations approach
• Inform & educate
• Identify & assess
• Protect & publish
• Explore & exploit
• Develop &
maintain
Well trodden path
Proactive support
Pre seed
CONSULTANTS
• Founders
• Project leader
• Professional
advisors
Seed
Venture
INTERIM MANAGERS
• Project support
• Company board
• Friends and Mentors
EXECUTIVE TEAM
• Company board
• Advisory board
• Portfolio management
Finding the right finance
• Lumpy process for early stage
technologies
• Gap at proof of concept stage < £3m
• Unfavourable terms at development
stage - typically 5-10 yrs research
before commercialisation
• Lack of exit opportunities even at
commercialisation stage
Overseas Alliances
• Exploit Technologies Singapore and
University of Columbia New York
• Leverage opportunities for international
development of spin-outs
• Access to international networks of
investors and industrial partners
• Technology exchange and joint
commercialisation
• Further understanding of commercial
needs
Investor network
• NIKKO £20m co-investors
• Imperial FF&P Gordon House LLP
• Corporate finance groups
• Access private money
• BML Medical & Life Sciences Fund
• £250k to £3m
• Co-invest with other external
investors
Funding for Innovations
• Service fees from College and industry
• Balance of spin-outs and licences
• Limited ability to fund technology
development before licensing
• Equity squeeze for those unable to follow on
• Diminished returns to universities
• Development fund management fees
• Commercialise industry’s unexploited IP
Conclusions
• Technology transfer has been
transformed by spin-out activity
• Imperial has developed a supportive
environment for commercialisation
• Access to funding and management
expertise is key
• A critical mass of activity has been
achieved