WORKING LIFE

Spin-outs and the great university challenge

Taking a bright idea from academia and turning it into a successful business presents a unique set of problems for entrepreneurs and scientists alike
Many bright ideas have come out of the University of Oxford’s dreaming spires, but turning them into profitable businesses is more difficult than people realise
Many bright ideas have come out of the University of Oxford’s dreaming spires, but turning them into profitable businesses is more difficult than people realise
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It’s been said many times before: “Britain is not very good at turning the many scientific breakthroughs made in its university labs into big businesses.” Stian Westlake wishes he had £1 for every time he’s heard words to that effect.

A classic example came two years ago when the government said that it wished to “address Britain’s historic weakness on commercialisation” as it launched a fund for bringing together academia and business. Mr Westlake, an adviser to the science, innovation and universities minister, says that he began to question whether the struggle to commercialise promising science really was a peculiarly British problem when he began to hear the same thing from policymakers, entrepreneurs and academics in other leading economies.

First it was the Canadians and