Commercialisation of R

1
Commercialisation of RD from universities and
Colleges-recent Irish experienceNordisk
Industrifond SeminarOct 15/16 2002

• Dr Eoin ONeill
• 16 years as Director of Innovation Services
• Attempt a high level analysis of what seems to
  work for us and why.
• This review skims over the work of scores of
  researchers, entrepreneurs and technology
  transfer practitioners in TCD and across the
  world, and gives a personal view.

2
TCD runs an Experimental Innovation Centre,
driven by research on campus

• IP Management, Patents and licencing
• Campus companies and Spin-offs
• Innovation (Incubator) Enterprise Centre (60
  businesses)
• Landing pad in Ireland for Large and small
  companies eg Hitachi Dublin Laboratory
• Joint research projects CSI (High Performance
  Computing)
• Training Innovation managers, Innovation networks
  (EU), International marketing, Entrepreneurship,
  Partenership with state.
• Seed capital

3
TCD biotechnology Campus Company

• Identigen Ltd
• Nature front cover 26.4.01
• TraceBackTM To authenticate
• Farm to Plate
• GMO testing

4
Haptica Ltd

• Robotics for the elderly
• Started as a Ph.D project
• Now manufacturing test products on College
  Enterprise Centre

5
Campus and Spin-out companies

• Iona Technologies
• Machine Vision Technologies (Agilent)
• Silicon and Software Systems (Philips)
• Magnetic Solutions
• Allegro Technologies
• Innovadis
• Haptica
• Telekinesys Research (Havok.com)

6
Trinity College Dublin

• Successful at the Pilot Phase
• Many good companies
• Lots of failure
• Compared ourselves worldwide
• In relative terms of inputs, our output compares
  with the best
• At the threshold of a different era..

7
Reflecting on what worked and why?

• Requirements for effectiveness (TCD 1992)
• Structure
• Participation
• Partnerships
• Intellectual Property regulation
• Interdisciplinarity
• Speed of Response
• Executive flexibility
• This framework still operates, with changes time
  has induced.

8
Structure

• State-directed or University-directed? function
  of state is to fund programmes against real
  targets
• Require optional actions re IP publish at
  discretion of academic if not contracted
  otherwise muddied by rumour and heresay and fear
  in Ireland
• One clear focal point in the university muddied
  by state-financed programmes (PATs)
• Set out what the policies are TCD could improve
• Support the administration of university
  policies TCD excellent

9
Participation

• Faculties
• Researchers
• Departments
• Managers
• State Agency

• All faculties must be included
• Researchers must be rewarded, (royalty sharing,
  equity)
• Departments should get some of the success
• Get more equity
• Taxation should be left to fiscal authorities

10
Intellectual Property regulation

• This is the most important part of the
  contract.. US Multinational on opening
  negotiations with a University in Ireland
• Universities and non-profits should have the
  ability to negotiate IP terms when collaborating
  with companies and other research partners
  General Electric executive at hearings in
  Washington on national funding of research.
• TCD has implemented a consistent policy on
  sharing IP benefits, giving soft licensing terms
  to campus companies, and endeavouring to get
  value for the institution
• Conclusion There is no recovery from
  agreements to share benefits later, so to start
  negotiating special terms for any project is
  often in fact to fail to get any benefits for the
  institution, in our experience.
• TCD is now reviewing its IP policies after 15
  years.

11
Interdisciplinarity

• If the University doesnt understand this point,
  youre in deep trouble
• Real problems rarely occur within the confines of
  academic subject areas as defined largely for
  teaching purposes
• In universities the hierarchy of researchers
  needs systematically destroys collaboration
  across departments where space, funds, posts, and
  outside linkages arise.
• Without interdisciplinarity, the
  university-industry interface becomes a cheap
  provider of services.

12
Speed of Response

• Business normally finds Universities too slow..
• We have moved from inquiry to producing a
  patentable result in one month for an Irish SME..
• Universities usually find that Large companies
  rarely respond rapidly, with the exception of
  those with professional tech transfer offices, or
  RD management that is used to outsourcing.
• Internal university management must empower Tech
  transfer executives, accept mistakes, and either
  provide resources or accept inadequate
  performance in an area that is publicly visible.

13
For Investors

• How to access the feedstock information from
  research and how to pin-point the research with
  commercial potential
• What research is coming out of Universities
• How do financiers access the Entrepreneurs
• How to assist high tech entrepreneurs to
  understand finance
• How to understand Intellectual Property
• Examples of success

14
Partnerships

• Researchers are judged by their peer group.
• Technology transfer operations should be judged
  by who their internal and external partners are.

15
International Linkages

• PANEL Barcelona , Munich, Milan and
• Dublin (among 22 leading European Regions)
• CLUSTER 11 European leaders linked to Stanford
  Round Table on Entrepreneurship and Education for
  Engineers
• International marketing Japan, North South
  America

16
Executive flexibility

• Institutional flexibility was the key to
  success(How the West grew Rich..)
• Deal making is an inevitable part of technology
  transfer the first patent you negotiate with a
  company may be the start of a long relationship
  if they receive commercial advantage.
• Choosing who in the institution can make
  entrepreneurship a reality is the key step in
  energising an institution. Excellence in research
  in whatever discipline is necessary but not
  sufficient for meaningful programmes.
• The North American habit of networking across
  their continent will have to be adopted in Europe
  if we are to translate the strength of European
  universities from research to higher added value
  ways of earning our living. What are waste of
  time political meetings to one researcher are in
  fact the key links in a chain that give success
  to the careers of others.

17
National Linkages

• Local Universities moving forward, but needs
  resources of trained personpower
• State Agencies Top down approach changing.
  Venture Capital activity now showing fruit.
  Overreliance on external opinion, not always
  well-informed. Recent new investment will yield
  stronger results.
• Sporadically excellent insufficient investment
  in communications, but improve each year.

• Dublin Technology Partnership
• Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland
  
• University/Industry Networks

18
What about basic research? Science Foundation
Ireland

• July 2001 - 71 mill. to 11 researchers 7 at
  TCD each 1.27 pa for 5 yrs
• Kingston Mills Immunology Vaccines
• Ken Wolfe Evolution of Eukaryotic Genomes
• Seamus Martin Apoptosis and the cell cycle
• Igor Chvets Micro-magnets and Nanofluidics
• Michael Coey Spin Electronics and Magnetic
  Devices
• John Pethica Structures with new Molecular
  Organisation
• John Boland - AtomatronicsNanoscale Science
  Technology
• September 2002 - 32 million to 13 researchers
  3 at TCD
• Suzanne Jarvis Dynamic Force Microscopy and
  Nanotube Probes
• Luke ONeill Immune System Receptors and Cell
  Signalling
• Kevin Mitchell Neuron Circuitry in Mammalian
  Model Systems
• plus three further awards notified - to be
  announced

19
Whats been most important for Technology
Transfer?

• All links in the chain must perform
• The source is in the research the output
  mechanisms must be equally supported at a
  professional level
• Activity must be marketed to be supported by the
  state
• Let the fast-trackers pass you out theyre going
  somewhere else
• Someone in some other country knows what to do
  thats useless to you, so develop the capability
  internally.
• Make sure you know what the someone in some other
  country is doingif its relevant adopt it and if
  not reject it consciously.
• Build the entire process around the best people,
  and throw away the rule book if the process
  doesnt attract them.