From inspiration to product creation

The popularity of the TV show Dragons’ Den, where would-be entrepreneurs explain their bright ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in a bid to take their products to market, perhaps highlights how many of us dream of one day coming up with something that will make the world a better place, or possibly make a lot of money. Working as they do at the frontiers of knowledge, university researchers are better placed than many to experience that ‘Eureka!’ moment – so how can they take their commercial ideas forward? 

In 1994, molecular geneticist Dr Luke Alphey realised that he could turn the techniques learnt in his fundamental studies on Drosophila flies to the control of pest insects, by using genetics to produce sterile insects. Preventing reproduction by mass release of sterile insects reduces insect numbers without the need for insecticides.

In 1999, Dr Alphey took this groundbreaking idea to the University’s wholly-owned technology transfer company, Isis Innovation. The scientific and commercial expertise of its staff enabled him to work through all the stages necessary to turn the idea into reality: first protecting the intellectual property (IP), then, with fellow zoologist Dr David Kelly, finding investors and in 2002 setting up a company. That spin-out company – Oxitec (Oxford Insect Technologies), now based in Milton Park, Abingdon – has recently been selected as one of 39 visionary ‘Technology Pioneers’ by the World Economic Forum because of its potential contribution to reducing the incidence of debilitating and widespread insect-borne diseases such as dengue fever, and limiting the devastating damage to crops caused by fruit flies and other pests. ‘Isis does a genuinely useful thing that would be hard to do any other way,’ says Dr Alphey. ‘Getting all the parties together, finding individual investors and potential managers - there’s no way an individual academic would be able to find them, without the coordinating role of Isis.’

Tom Hockaday, who joined Isis in 2000 as Director of Special Products and has been its Managing Director since 2006, is proud to see companies, which he and his colleagues have nurtured through their early stages grow into strong, independent businesses.

Many products are health-related and include novel ways to deliver drugs, a potential vaccine for tuberculosis, and using mobile phone technology to monitor patients with long-term health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Other ideas address environmental issues through, for example, the development of greener fuels, the use of improved heating controls in buildings, and a way to tackle the very serious problem of groundwater contamination by arsenic in Bangladesh.

So how exactly does Isis Innovation work with academics and what can it offer those who think they may have an idea with commercial potential? ‘We are very, very firm believers that the key to our success in technology transfer is to do it in a way that helps and supports researchers,’ says Mr Hockaday. ‘Our existence depends on researchers at Oxford wanting to work with us.’

When a researcher comes to Isis with an idea – which is often at a very early stage of development – they are allocated a Project Manager, who has a doctorate and expertise in the relevant scientific field as well as a background in industry. The first step will usually be to protect the IP in the idea or invention. Isis has plenty of experience of the legal issues involved, with an average of one patent application per week being filed and 400 patent families currently under management.

The Project Manager helps the researcher to develop their idea and map out its ‘route to market’. Depending on the nature of the research and the stage it has reached, this may involve finding a commercial partner who wants to license the technology, or setting up a spin-out. In 2007 Isis was involved in 50 new technology licence deals. ‘But if there isn’t an obvious existing company, and if the technology is perceived by the marketplace as very early stage, we may need to set up a spin-out for the marketplace of the future that will appreciate these technologies,’ says Mr Hockaday.

Isis staff – who now number 40 – understand both the ‘entrepreneurial ecosystem’ of Oxfordshire’s economy, and the international context. The IP marketplace and technology licensing are often global; setting up spinouts tends to be a fairly local activity. Most Oxford spin-outs are set up in local business parks, but Isis can also use its contacts in other countries, including the US, Japan and China, to find partners and investors. During a recent visit to Japan to demonstrate new technologies, for example, Isis was in contact with over 150 Japanese technology companies.

Most of Isis’s work to date has been with the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Division and the Medical Sciences Division; some projects, such as those in biomedical engineering, span both. Oxford’s collegiate system, which creates opportunities for people from different disciplines to talk to each other, helps foster interdisciplinary projects, thinks Tom Hockaday. Some departments, such as Chemistry and Engineering Science, have particularly strong relationships with Isis, so younger researchers learn from the experiences of their senior colleagues who have been involved in successful licensing deals or spin-outs.

‘People must be confident that getting involved in commercialisation need not damage their academic career,’ says Mr Hockaday. Professor Gus Hancock, a chemist whose spin-out company Oxford Medical Diagnostics aids disease diagnosis through breath-testing, testifies to this: ‘I’ve certainly felt very strongly that the involvement with setting up a spin-out company has in no way affected the type of research that I’ve been able to do within the department in anything but a positive fashion. I’ve not felt that I’ve been required or forced to go in any commercial direction.’

In addition to technology transfer, Isis provides support for academics working as consultants across all disciplines. Through its Oxford University Consulting (OUC) arm, Isis staff can advise researchers who want to sell their time, and match them with prospective clients. Professor Angela Vincent, Head of the Department of Clinical Neurology, has benefited from this service in the past: ‘Isis set up a consulting contract for me when I was asked to act as an expert witness. It was worth going through Isis to make sure I got the best deal – and they did all the invoicing etc.’

In 2007 Isis was involved in 89 new consultancy agreements. Recent consultancies have involved researchers from the Oxford University Centre for the Environment, and staff working on the social impact of science at the Oxford Internet Institute. OUC also helps identify appropriate academics to carry out TV and radio programme research and aims to develop long-term relationships with clients from both the public and private sectors. Joint initiatives with the staff and students at the Saïd Business School are used to raise awareness about entrepreneurship within the University, and Isis also sponsors and participates in the annual Venturefest event, which helps to celebrate and promote enterprise and build stronger links between academics and business people.

In addition, Isis runs its own consulting business, Isis Enterprise, through which it passes on its expertise in running a technology transfer and consulting business to other institutions. Clients include Oxford Brookes University, The Carbon Trust and the Natural Environment Research Council.

As well as the satisfaction of seeing their ideas, inventions and expertise turned into actual products and services of value to society and the economy, University academics share in the financial benefits. The system is that the University claims ownership of the IP, Isis then helps the researcher to commercialise it, and finally, where successful, the researcher receives a share of royalty streams, consultancy fees, or shares in a spin-out.

Dr Mark Maloney, Reader in Chemistry, summarises: ‘Isis Innovation provides an excellent conduit for the commercialisation of academic research, since they understand what motivates academics, but also understand what is required to make any commercial exploitation worthwhile. Their input into my own spin-out company, Oxford Advanced Surfaces, has proved to be critical for its success.’

Tom Hockaday readily accepts that not every academic will aspire to become an entrepreneur, but urges those with a hunch that they have an idea with commercial potential to get in touch with Isis (tel 01865 280830) for an informal discussion. News and case studies of innovation and entrepreneurship are featured in Isis’s print and e-publications, accessible via their website.