Multi-million pound fund to boost UK university spin-outs and research
iCURE project will see SETsquared, HEFCE and Innovate UK collaborate
The UK government has announced a £3.2m project to accelerate research at universities across the South of England and spin out new high-potential businesses.
Funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and Innovate UK, the iCURE project was announced by Minister for Universities and Science, Greg Clark MP.
The project aims to ‘bridge the valley of death’ identified by the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee. It wants to help address issues raised in the Government’s response to the Committee’s inquiry last year, including the importance of innovation by universities in managing intellectual property and of paying attention to the availability of ‘proof of concept’ funding.
iCURE will see HEFCE, Innovate UK and university enterprise partnership SETsquared work together on a pilot to tackle these issues and help accelerate research to be successfully commercialised and spin out new companies.
Collaboration is the key to turning the best research into new businesses
Under the programme, early-stage researchers at the five SETsquared universities (Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey) will be given tailored training, mentoring and funds to speed up the commercialisation of their ideas, technologies and products. The project was inspired by Innovate UK’s review of a similar programme operated by the US National Science Foundation, and is funded by a £2.8m HEFCE cash injection and £400,000 from Innovate UK.
Clark said: 'Collaboration is the key to turning the best research into new businesses. We are proud that SETsquared is already Europe’s best incubator, and second in the world, which is why we are supporting this pilot scheme. It will provide skills, support and mentoring to help the UK’s best researchers turn their ideas into commercial success.'
Don Spalinger, Board member of SETsquared and Director of Research and Innovation Services at the University of Southampton, said iCURE could see university research being commercialised faster than ever before, which is vital for universities.
'Particularly in the field of technology, where everything evolves so fast, getting a product to market quickly can make the difference between creating a successful business and falling behind,' he added.
'The flexibility of this programme and the way it is run will allow researchers to assess their markets much faster, meaning they can potentially seek investment or sell their ideas within just a few months.'
The programme will also benefit teams that do not move to spin-out. Spalinger added: 'We do not expect that every team going through the programme will result in a spin-out opportunity. The successful output for some teams will be the licensing of the technology or product idea to an existing company which will commercialise it through its existing channels.
'Other teams will gain invaluable knowledge of the marketplace, which will be taken back into the research lab either to refine the ideas and technologies, or take the research down another path that they have discovered from their interactions with the marketplace.'
