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WORLD LEADING BUSINESS SUPPORT
Boosting deal readiness, building capacity, training and developing research staff to enable faster commercialisation
Deal readiness playbooks
Standardised templates
Learn the IP commercialisation process
Bespoke business and commercial training
The ambition was to harvest the collective capabilities across commercialisation teams with investors, entrepreneurs and professional services to transform commercialisation and spin-outs were supported.
The programme sought to achieve this by building a common understanding among all stakeholders and by creating toolkits, playbooks, guidance, templates, and standardisation to help streamline the commercialisation process.
This co-created, standardised, and harmonised suite of templates aims to eliminate unnecessary negotiations, speeding up and enhancing the efficiency of deal-making. Moving beyond the USIT guide, it provides deeper insights into the commercial terms for spin-outs and start-ups.
Funded by Research England and developed by the SETsquared Partnership, a collaboration of six leading universities (Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton, and Surrey), the Toolkit draws on the expertise behind 200+ spin-outs and a global reputation for supporting deep-tech start-ups. The Deal Readiness Toolkit helps academics, investors, lawyers, and technology transfer professionals cut complexity, save time, and accelerate spin-out and licensing deals.
We offered an exciting opportunity for Early Career Researchers from SETsquared partner Universities (Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey) to immerse themselves in developing commercial skills and business acumen through a six-month fixed-term fellowship programme. The Fellows were part of a comprehensive training and development programme that helped to support and speed up deal-making, working with two cohorts of Fellows across the partner Universities. The programme included bespoke training, as well as placements, secondments, and mentorship from Entrepreneurs in Residence.
The Entrepreneurs in Residence programme was built on a successful model, operating across the partner Universities, curating relationships, driving process improvements, and supporting innovation adoption across the research, innovation, and spin-out ecosystem.
The programme onboarded six Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiRs) who brought their extensive commercial acumen to support both the programme and the Commercialisation Fellows. Providing mentoring and guidance to the Fellows, the EiRs also delivered in-person and online training to the cohorts, plus 1:1 support.
“It broadened my career perspective by showing me how academic research can align with industry needs and create societal and economic value. It has also encouraged me to integrate commercial thinking into my current projects.” – Dr Ehsan Khalefa, University of Portsmouth
“It has given me a much clearer picture of how the commercialisation process works, from scoping markets and setting pricing, to understanding intellectual property and the business cycle. I now feel more fluent in the ‘language’ of industry and more confident about engaging with potential partners.” – Dr Carly Ameen, University of Exeter
“Now I know that doing quality research is not just enough. It is important to bridge its commercial potential so that we can exploit the research not only for the benefit of society but also commercially.” – Dr Thet, University of Bath
Driving innovation through collaboration
The IMPACT-IP Programme has successfully concluded, following a collaborative effort that united the Tech Transfer Offices of our partner Universities to drive innovation and share best practices. Together, the team onboarded Commercialisation Fellows and Entrepreneurs in Residence, developed a bespoke training programme, and co-created the first iteration of the open-access Deal Readiness Toolkit, which has been widely adopted by institutions, companies and individuals. The team continues to build on the networks and partnerships formed and invites you to access the Toolkit.
SETsquared is a partnership between
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