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Friday 21 November 2008
Research
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|NewsletterDevice R&D
Imperial College aims to turn research into business
Tuesday 10 April 2007
Imperial College has set up a chair in technology transfer, and the first appointee is Professor Erkko Autio who was involved in commercialising university research at the Helsinki University of Technology.
“This is a tremendously exciting place to be because of all the activity going on. It’s a rare opportunity,” Autio told EW, “Imperial College is very rich in spin-offs, there are 66 spin-off companies in the college’s portfolio.”
Asked what he’d be doing at Imperial, Autio replied: “I’ll be doing research on technological innovation in a research-intensive context. How, when you develop new findings, do you turn them into commercial value? How do you exploit intellectual capital?”
Asked for an example, Autio replied: “Typically what you do in a university is that you develop a research result which is generic, like 3-D rapid prototyping technology. Can we apply it for architects to generate models of houses? Or for dentists to create models of teeth and mouths?”
Asked how that was done, Autio replied: “One way is by licensing, the other is by the formation of a company.”
How do you choose which way to go? “It depends on many things”, replied Autio, “but one thing is whether you can patent it in such a way that it can’t be designed around. If we develop a molecule it’s very difficult to emulate, so patenting and licensing is the preferred route. If, in electronics, we develop something for high precision measurement, you cannot really protect it by patent, but you can develop skills and competencies around it which are not easily copied by someone else, and that is better for a spin-off.”
Sponsors Qinetiq said it would ensure that: "Effective models for the complex process of transferring ideas between the laboratory and market-place are made pervasive for the benefit of the economy."
“This is a tremendously exciting place to be because of all the activity going on. It’s a rare opportunity,” Autio told EW, “Imperial College is very rich in spin-offs, there are 66 spin-off companies in the college’s portfolio.”
Asked what he’d be doing at Imperial, Autio replied: “I’ll be doing research on technological innovation in a research-intensive context. How, when you develop new findings, do you turn them into commercial value? How do you exploit intellectual capital?”
Asked for an example, Autio replied: “Typically what you do in a university is that you develop a research result which is generic, like 3-D rapid prototyping technology. Can we apply it for architects to generate models of houses? Or for dentists to create models of teeth and mouths?”
Asked how that was done, Autio replied: “One way is by licensing, the other is by the formation of a company.”
How do you choose which way to go? “It depends on many things”, replied Autio, “but one thing is whether you can patent it in such a way that it can’t be designed around. If we develop a molecule it’s very difficult to emulate, so patenting and licensing is the preferred route. If, in electronics, we develop something for high precision measurement, you cannot really protect it by patent, but you can develop skills and competencies around it which are not easily copied by someone else, and that is better for a spin-off.”
Sponsors Qinetiq said it would ensure that: "Effective models for the complex process of transferring ideas between the laboratory and market-place are made pervasive for the benefit of the economy."
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