Durham University takes responsibility for the commercialisation of its research and knowledge seriously as a distinctive form of knowledge transfer from the Institution. It has a structured and systematic approach supported by an experienced team of professional staff.
We define commercialisation to refer to any mechanism by which intellectual property, knowhow or expertise is developed and delivered into markets or paid for applications. It includes spinout companies, including both for-profit companies and social enterprises, licensing and sale of IP, and the commercialisation of know-how and expertise.
Durham University’s IP policy holds the following strategic values with respect to exploitation of Intellectual Property:
The policy expects that Intellectual Property originating from its activities should be exploited and transferred into use wherever possible and by the most effective means. Identified aims include the delivery of impact – into the economy, social and environmental development and regional economic growth and to support academic endeavour which provides a high-quality translation mechanism for our academic staff and encourages academic staff to locate and prosper at the University.
The University’s Strategy Refresh has placed strong emphasis on further strengthening the impact of the University’s research on the economy, society and on environmental priorities, including through commercialisation.
An independent report by Professor Irene Tracey and Doctor Andrew Williamson of university eco-systems and practice supporting spinout companies was published on 21 November 2023. The UK Government’s prompt response fully accepted the recommendations of the Spinout Review. Durham University has substantively adopted the Review’s best practices.
Read our full statement of adoption.
We seek to encourage academic staff to engage in entrepreneurial activities by creating an innovation framework within the University and working together with other universities in the region and beyond.
In line with the strategic values in our Policy, we encourage a positive environment for entrepreneurship amongst academics using innovation friendly IP policies which are visible to all staff and support and training for academic staff.
Our spin-out policy terms are designed to promote successful outcomes for spin-outs by providing incentives for founders and attracting investors.
Durham University retains some founding equity which recognises and helps to resource our ongoing support for excellent research and innovation activities.
The approach is substantially aligned with the USIT Guide, with respect of founding equity shares, royalties and patent costs.
Our Research Commercialisation team is responsible for supporting spin-out creation and delivers visible and dedicated expertise to our commercialisation activities.
It is headed by Richard Baker, Director of Commercialisation and Economic Development and includes three Senior Technology Transfer Managers, Heather Allinson, Mike Bath and Naomi Willis. The team works closely with our Legal Services team during company creation and legal agreement negotiations.
The team has responsibility to create companies and licenses in IP for knowledge dissemination within the framework of our IP policy and reports annually to the University Executive Committee and Finance Committee on its work.
To ensure rapid decisions around company creation the Research Commercialisation team has robust templates in place that are accepted readily during investments. These are kept under review for suitability from both a legal and technology transfer best practice point-of-view and recent updates have been adopted.
Commercial decision making within normal IP policy parameters is delegated to the Research Commercialisation team who can turn round approvals immediately.
The team works closely with individual academics and groups across all faculties and has a proven track record in the commercial exploitation of new products, processes and services. It is responsible for; IP and patents management, spin-out creation and IP sale and licensing on behalf of the University, supporting commercialisation throughout the innovation cycle from initial disclosure to full company creation and beyond.
It deals with approximately 50-60 research disclosures, spins-out three to four businesses per annum and manages a range of licence deals on behalf of the University.
For spin-out companies, the team works with academic researchers to develop a business plan to get the business ready to raise the investment needed to take the venture forward.
The team continues to innovate to support a broad range of opportunities, and over the last few years has delivered work to support commercialisation in SHAPE disciplines, through creation of not-for-profit ventures and social enterprises in addition to equity-based ventures. Durham University has spun out more than 60 companies since 2000s from across all faculties..
Northern Accelerator is an exciting collaboration between the North East’s universities, creating real-world impact from world-leading research, commercialising innovation and boosting the region’s economy. As a founding member of Northern Accelerator, Durham University is committed to supporting an entrepreneurial environment for its academics.
Through Northern Accelerator we deliver a shared approach to research commercialisation to exploit scale and build critical mass in the spin-out space through a number of activities. Northern Accelerator has also provided a mechanism to share expertise and build capacity in less well-developed universities in the region.
This programme maintains the independence of individual technology transfer offices, preserving trust and adherence to individual university policies, whilst opening up a range of tools to all institutions to de-risk and build a pipeline of spin-outs while supporting the embedding of strong management teams.
Northern Accelerator enables us to deliver a number of the recommendations from the Spin-out Review such as proof of concept funding, entrepreneurial training and commercialisation support from experienced executives. Further support mechanisms are being explored through Northern Accelerator extending its support offer, such as entrepreneurial fellowships for academics and fast start grants.
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