Bridging the Gap: A Shared Technology Transfer Office Vision for Wessex. Funded by Research England (£487,664.00)

The aim of this project is to develop a regional lean technology transfer office model for smaller and more applied research institutions so that they can better identify commercial value from their research outputs as well as surface valuable intellectual property and thereby collectively generate the mass required to sustain deep institutional commercial practices.

Funded by Research England, this project is a collaboration between universities across the Greater Hampshire and Wessex Area (University of Portsmouth, Chichester, Solent, AECC University College and Arts University Bournemouth) along with industry partners (Skillfluence, Anderson Law, Mazars, Oxentia and Abel& Imray).

As CoI my role was to input into the drafting of the project proposal along with colleagues from the University of Portsmouth 's Department of Research and Innovation (DRI) and from our bid partners.

My specific input was to ensure that the bid emphasised the importance of widening the participation and knowledge levels of staff across the consortium in the IP and commercialisation process (objective 3 of the successful bid); particularly academics, given that it’s their research (and the groups and centres that they belong to) that initiates a discussion of this process in the first place.

Post funding my role (as the academic lead for the consortium) is to ensure (along with other members of the top-level governance group) that the project delivers on its aims of creating a regional lean TTO pilot model to support the development of a range of academic led university-based spinouts across the south coast.