Tony Hickson is the chief business officer of Cancer Research UK, where he leads the Commercial Partnerships team responsible for commercialisation. He joins us on the podcast to discuss taking a very long view of shifting culture towards more entrepreneurialism and the importance of transparency around ethnic diversity and inclusion. He also discusses the changes he has seen and the lessons he has learned throughout his career to date, which included turning Imperial Innovations into a public c...
Mar 25, 2022
For the 50th episode of the podcast, I’m excited to bring you a discussion between Ian McClure, the associate vice-president for research, innovation and economic impact at University of Kentucky, the executive director of its commercialisation office UK Innovate and the incoming chairman of AUTM, and Orin Herskowitz, senior vice-president of intellectual property and tech transfer for Columbia University. Among the topics covered are attending intellectual property conferences and understanding...
Jan 07, 2022
Stanford may be a recognised world leader, but it must not rest on its laurels – sometimes that even means launching initiatives that others have long been doing. That is just one of the lessons Karin Immergluck, executive director of Stanford University’s Office of Technology Licensing (OTL), tells me on this episode. She also discusses what the US can learn from its international peers, why TenU is an important component of her work, and she examines the importance of erasing bias in hiring pr...
Dec 17, 2021
Andy Shenk, chief executive of Auckland UniServices, the commercialisation subsidiary of the University of Auckland, joins us on Talking Tech Transfer to discuss how the office collaborates with the Māori people and why that matters, what the opportunities and challenges are around big data and AI, and why being a remote country is an asset for space tech. He also tells us why New Zealand is missing serial entrepreneurs despite a willingness for people to try their hands at startups and why Auck...
Dec 10, 2021
Alice Li is the executive director of the Center for Technology Licensing (CTL) at Cornell University and she joins us on Talking Tech Transfer to discuss how this Ivy League institution remains agile and open to experimentation, what questions the profession needs to ask today to be prepared for the future and what the challenges and opportunities are for a university with multiple campuses. She also reveals how she ended up in tech transfer and what changes she has seen over the past two decad...
Dec 03, 2021
Albert Domingo is the director of technologies and digital areas at UPF Ventures, the spinout management arm of Pompeu Fabra University, and he joins me to discuss the opportunities and challenges of building an ecosystem in Barcelona. He also explains why UPF Ventures works with spinouts from other institutions and why Spanish bureaucracy is a particularly difficult matter to contend with for companies in their first year after launch. Albert also explores the value of having both domestic and ...
Nov 26, 2021
Riam Kanso is the founder and CEO of Conception X, a non-profit organisation in the UK that helps PhD students develop their entrepreneurial skillsets and launch deeptech startups. She tells us about how Conception X grew out of a pilot programme at University College London, why not taking any equity in the portfolio companies is an advantage and how Conception X’s offering fits into the wider technology transfer ecosystem. She also discusses Conception X’s partnership with Schmidt Futures and ...
Nov 19, 2021
Otomar Sláma is the chairman of Charles University Innovations Prague, the commercialisation subsidiary of Charles University, and he joins us today to talk about how his passion led him to become only the second person in the Czech Republic to gain RTTP accreditation and why it will take a societal culture shift to drive entrepreneurship in the country – and why that has led him to support a programme aimed at high-school students. He also talks about the significance of the newly launched €45m...
Nov 12, 2021
Rohan McDougall is the director of commercialisation at Curtin University and he joins us to discuss the challenges faced by a remote ecosystem such as Perth. We also talk about driving innovation in a region known for mining – which led to one of Curtin’s most prominent spinouts to date – and what the success of graphic design platform Canva means for the local venture capital scene. McDougall also tells us about West Tech Fest and explains why Australian startups tend to list early. Get in tou...
Nov 05, 2021
Alexis Dormandy has been the chief executive of Oxford Science Enterprises, the investment company set up by University of Oxford, since January this year and he joins us to talk about the changes he has already enacted (which included rebranding the organisation from its original name of Oxford Sciences Innovation), what he plans to do next (such as surveying the portfolio to understand how to increase diversity) and the importance of building businesses that can rival the Microsofts and Intels...
Oct 28, 2021
David Coleman is the chief executive of University of Birmingham Enterprise, and he’s a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion. That is just one of the topics covered in this interview –he also tells about the importance of MICRA and its ambition to raise a fund, how the TTO has grown over the years and also manages a research park, life science incubator and engages with local entrepreneurs, and why Birmingham is the place where he has ended up staying for more than a decade after work...
Oct 21, 2021
Itzik Goldwaser is the president and chief executive of Yissum, the technology transfer company of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and he joins us to discuss how the country’s mandatory army service helps foster an entrepreneurial mindset. He also tells us about his journey from running a Hebrew University spinout to heading its TTO, how the Israel Innovation Authority helps him do his work and why he still loves getting to the office at 6:30am every day. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on Lin...
Oct 15, 2021
Christy Wyskiel is the executive director of Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures (JHTV), the tech transfer office of Johns Hopkins University, and senior adviser to the president for innovation and entrepreneurship. She reveals why she is so passionate about the Baltimore ecosystem that she goes above and beyond her day job and talks about why having run her own startups gives her a real appreciation for the hardships of first-time entrepreneurs. She also discusses what JHTV is doing to support di...
Oct 07, 2021
Tim Boyle is the director of innovation and commercialisation at nuclear research institute ANSTO and the chair of ATTP, the global body responsible for RTTP accreditation. He joins us to talk about what makes ANSTO different and how a chance encounter on Imperial College London’s campus pushed him into a career in tech transfer. He also talks about why RTTP is so important to the tech transfer profession, why candidate RTTP was introduced and why offices with a high number of RTTP-accredited st...
Sep 30, 2021
Christina Takke is a managing partner of V-Bio Ventures, a venture capital firm she co-founded to invest in spinouts from research institute VIB and other promising companies across Europe. She tells us why she helped set up V-Bio Ventures, why it is qualitative money that is missing in continental Europe and what can be done to improve the gender ratio in venture capital. She also discusses what it was like to start raising a fund during the pandemic and why the large amount of due diligence re...
Sep 23, 2021
Rich Chylla is the executive director of MSU Technologies, the tech transfer office of Michigan State University. He joins us on Talking Tech Transfer to discuss the importance of collaboration across institutions and countries, as well as tell us more about his experience of being a chair of AUTM, why MSU Foundation plays a crucial role in his job and why “flyover country” is an unfair – if sometimes all too persistent – description of Michigan. He also talks about his experience of chairing Pr...
Sep 16, 2021
Thomas Schmidt is the head of technology transfer at University of Southern Denmark, or SDU, and he joins us on Talking Tech Transfer to discuss the importance of time management skills, the challenges – and opportunities! – of being a regional university, and why senior leaders are the ones who really ought to consider becoming RTTP certified. He also tells us how, with an MA in Marketing and Communication, he ended up in tech transfer, and how the Nordic Innovation Fair has grown from a nation...
Sep 09, 2021
Jay Schrankler is the associate vice-president and head of the Polsky Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at University of Chicago, having spent the first part of his career in industry. He’s here to tell us about the transformative experience that convinced him to join the world of university tech transfer, what makes the Polsky Center such a unique organisation and why earlier this year it launched the US’s first ever accelerator focused exclusively on quantum technologies. He also talk...
Sep 02, 2021
Helen McBreen is a partner at Atlantic Bridge, overseeing the spinout-focused University Bridge Fund – backed by Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and University College Cork. She talks about the importance of diversity on both sides of the table and give us an insight into how the fund works with researchers for as long as 18 months before a spinout is formed. She also tells about the strengths of the Irish ecosystem and why, even though she’s just closed Fund II, it’s actually ...
Aug 26, 2021
Sean Fielding was, until a couple of weeks ago, the director of innovation, impact and business at University of Exeter, where he built the tech transfer office from scratch in the mid-90s. He joins us on Talking Tech Transfer to discuss how the requirement to generate impact has changed the way universities think about research and his dream of having tech transfer professionals be as celebrated as rockstars. He also talks about his experience of chairing PraxisAuril, the importance of SETsquar...
Aug 12, 2021
Paul Van Dun is the general manager of Leuven Research and Development, the tech transfer office of KU Leuven that has a unique framework which allows faculty to generate income for their labs without incorporating spinouts. He is here to tell us more about this as well as his vision of having universities ranked based on impact, what changes he has seen during his 20-year-long career and how one of his favourite spinouts helped revitalise the region’s historical strengths in bicycle production....
Aug 05, 2021
Brijesh Roy, seed investment manager at Imperial College London, started out in hedge fund management before joining Oxford University Innovation and then Mercia. On this episode, he talks about his storied career, why Imperial decided to bring spinout funding back in-house following the Touchstone acquisition and what his vision for a tech transfer operation fit for the 21st century looks like. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on LinkedIn . Music “Funk Game Loop” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com...
Jul 29, 2021
Michael Kearney is a principal at The Engine, the tough tech incubator and patient capital fund backed by MIT and Harvard, and he joins us to talk not only about the importance of hiring diverse teams (in spinouts and in funds), but also about the highly unique ecosystem in Cambridge, MA and the reasons why the journey of a deep tech founder is fundamentally different. He also tells us why his own experience working for a tough tech spinout prompted him to return to academia to gain a PhD from M...
May 14, 2021
Jason Whitney, vice-president of venture development at IU Ventures and executive director of the IU Angel Network, joins us to talk about the Angel Network, why it takes care of due diligence for investors and why it emphasises educating angels. He also discusses the origins and purpose of the Sports Innovation Initiative, which focuses on startups in areas as broad as apparel and esports, and reveals how an opera singer proved to him you should never go into a meeting with a preconceived notio...
May 07, 2021
Sara Wallin is the relatively new chief executive of Chalmers Ventures, having only joined the incubator and venture arm of Chalmers University of Technology in December 2020. But she brought with her a wealth of experience and on this episode of Talking Tech Transfer she tells us why she took the job at Chalmers, and explains the importance of requiring portfolio companies to pursue one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and pushing startups to hire women to their boards. She also reveals ...
Apr 29, 2021
Markus Wanko is the head of technology transfer at Institute of Science and Technology Austria and the founder and managing partner of its venture fund, IST cube. He joins us on Talking Tech Transfer to talk about why he moved into tech transfer after a career working for Qatar Investment Authority, Boston Consulting Group and others, why it was important to become a director of AUTM and what opportunities and challenges a country like Austria faces when it comes to commercialisation. Get in tou...
Apr 22, 2021
We chat with Adam Stoten, the chief operating officer of Oxford University Innovation, about vaccines – not just for covid but also one for tuberculosis he helped develop at a spinout – as well as the importance of REF, KEF and the Knowledge Exchange Concordat, and the success of LAB282. He also exclusively reveals what is next for him personally. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on LinkedIn . Music “Funk Game Loop” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) • Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attributi...
Apr 15, 2021
Matt Perkins has been the chief executive of Oxford University Innovation for just under five years and he joins us to talk not only about why he moved from industry into academia but also about how OUI set up programmes to support diverse founding teams, the impact of Oxford Sciences Innovation on the local ecosystem and the increasing importance of social enterprises as well as why, once the pandemic is over, there won’t just be a rush back to the office. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on L...
Apr 09, 2021
We chat with Brian McCaul, the CEO of Qubis, the tech transfer company of Queen’s University Belfast, to find out why it continuously finds itself at the top of rankings, why a centralised TTO would not make sense even in a place as small as Northern Ireland and what drew him back into university commercialisation after heading his own startup. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on LinkedIn . Music “Funk Game Loop” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) • Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution ...
Mar 26, 2021
We chat with Alison Campbell, the director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland, the national office responsible for policy, practice and performance of the Irish commercialisation system, about outside recognition of the tech transfer profession, diversity in leadership and working on a report for the European Commission on harmonising knowledge transfer metrics. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on LinkedIn . Music “Funk Game Loop” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) • Licensed under Creative Commons: By...
Mar 19, 2021
