Dame Ann Dowling鈥檚 landmark report this year into university-industry collaborations highlighted the difficulties that the academy faces when commercialising the technologies forged deep in its laboratories.

But although many of the Dowling report鈥檚 proposals aimed at making it simpler for universities to tap into marketplaces have been welcomed by the sector, collaboration and commercialisation are still difficult.

IN-PART, a UK start-up set up just over 18 months ago that aims to better link universities with industry, is trying to change that.

Robin Knight, the company's co-founder and a former postdoctoral researcher at King鈥檚 College London, said that for a young academic, industry collaboration represents a 鈥渄egree of the great unknown, but potentially a very attractive route to ensure your research has impact鈥�. Certain universities, however, don鈥檛 have the 鈥渟upport structure to say: 鈥榳hen you have something new, this is what you do鈥欌€� nor the 鈥渋ntegral interaction鈥� with industry.

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鈥淲e found that industry couldn鈥檛 properly interact and see the research on display in universities because they had to navigate labyrinthine websites, and delve down 12 pages to see where the technologies actually were,鈥� Dr Knight said, adding that the complexities of the system do not help.

The government should be making it easier for universities to know how best to interact with industry, he believed. 鈥淚 went to the post-report debrief for the Dowling review and saw the very complex diagram they had drawn as to all the different routes one could go down as a university academic,鈥� he said.

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The strapline on IN-PART鈥檚 website, 鈥淕etting University Collaboration Opportunities to Industry鈥�, is certainly to the point on what it is trying to achieve; a directness that the firm鈥檚 other co-founder, Patrick Speedie, said is crucial to its services.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a disenfranchisement between academics and industry and we felt that we had an effective approach of bringing them together,鈥� said Mr Speedie. 鈥淲e work with universities to pool together their latest collaborative opportunities: early stage projects right up to commercially worked-up technologies.鈥�

But since there are numerous 鈥渢echnology intermediaries鈥� out there, according to Mark Saulich, senior commercialisation manager at Northeastern University in Boston, which has just signed up for a pilot with IN-PART, what makes the firm different?

Moving away from cold-calling

Mr Speedie said that a major attraction was that IN-PART was dedicated to promoting university technologies among firms.

鈥淲e found out when we spoke to universities, that they鈥檙e often cold-calling companies. You鈥檝e got people at PhD level who work in industry for some time trying to sell really complex, advanced materials, quite intricate [technologies]. They鈥檙e quite complicated things to sell over the phone so a warm introduction to relevant research and development contacts can be invaluable.

鈥淭he nuance within our system is that we keep it [a] closed loop 鈥� only R&D units are allowed in 鈥� there鈥檚 no noise whatsoever from [outside] audiences and it gets technologies to the relevant people quickly and simply. It鈥檚 a very exclusive audience.鈥�

Although it is accepted that some collaborations between industry and universities may not be successful, IN-PART鈥檚 70 per cent-plus success rate in linking universities with companies is encouraging, and, this week, the company launched its US pilot scheme with eight institutions 鈥� including three Ivy League universities. Overall, the firm has expanded its university portfolio from six institutions to almost 40 since its inception, including three in Asia.

Laurie Actman, chief operating officer of the Penn Center for Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania, said that joining up for the pilot represented 鈥済ood marketing opportunities for our technologies鈥�.

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When asked whether it was strange that a university from the US 鈥� often regarded as a global leader in commercialising technologies 鈥� would sign up with a British start-up, Ms Actman said that it 鈥渄idn鈥檛 matter鈥�.

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鈥淲e were just happy to really try out any credible platform for marketing some of our discoveries鈥specially the potential access for European-based companies in our sectors that are maybe harder for us to stay in close contact with,鈥� she said.

鈥淭he industry has changed so much and is driven by a mix of factors, one of which is the drop in federal funding for basic research. That鈥檚 motivated everyone to be more creative and flexible in terms of how they fund research.

鈥淢ore positively, more universities 鈥� including Penn 鈥� are finding that these partnerships are really beneficial because the right one can speed up the pace of innovation and commercialisation, help translate discoveries into the marketplace and deliver actual created products.

鈥淢ost of our faculty want to see their discoveries have impact in the world and not just be papers that sit on the shelf. A private-sector partner offers good insight into how business models could work, [promoting] the research in a way that can actually lead to product development.鈥�

Mr Saulich agreed. 鈥淎 lot of the research is based on government funding, but as that pool of money dries up, we鈥檙e now turning to industry to help fund some of those efforts,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or the past several years, we鈥檝e averaged about $150 million (拢98 million) in research funding and a large percentage comes from the federal government but, more and more, we鈥檙e trying to get that funding from industry and generating that revenue from industry.

鈥淚鈥檝e worked in tech transfer for about 15 years and I鈥檝e got a good sense as to what works and why 鈥� at times, these intermediaries aren鈥檛 as successful as they could be. [However,] IN-PART is tapped into what the key variables [are] in successfully facilitating collaborations between industry and universities.鈥�

Emma Brown, business development manager at the University of York 鈥� one of the early adopters of IN-PART聽鈥� said that universities in the UK and abroad were becoming more attuned to the necessity of industry-university collaboration.

鈥淚 think because of the research excellence framework [the mindset is] much more embedded now,鈥� she said.

鈥淭he five years leading up to the REF were a culture change and a shock to the system for people, but that鈥檚 here to stay in some form or other. The concept of knowledge transfer and exchange is much more embedded among the academics鈥� ethos and mindset. [But] if somebody could find the panacea for connecting industry with academia, please let me know!鈥�

Mr Speedie said that IN-PART鈥檚 user base was still 鈥�65 per cent UK鈥� but hopefully the overseas expansion will be its platform for a global presence.

鈥淐ertainly in the next 18 months, I see us being known as a go-to place for companies to view collaborative opportunities from universities, internationally,鈥� he said. 鈥淎bout 100 universities will be research-intensive enough to use our system [in the UK]. I hope [in 18 months] that we鈥檒l have 80 per cent of [that] market.鈥�

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john.elmes@tesglobal.com