In late July over 60 representatives from across 13 Shared TTO pilot projects, funded by Research England’s (RE) Connecting Capability Fund – Research England Development (CCF RED) fund, gathered at Woburn House for a project evaluation workshop. The workshop, convened by Knowledge Exchange UK who have been commissioned by RE to conduct an independent evaluation of the funded programme, and co-delivered with Research Consulting, brought together a range of partners involved in the projects including universities, consultancy organisations, professional services and industry, as well as observers from Research England and DSIT. It was an invaluable opportunity to see how universities can create models to support sharing the functions and services of a Tech Transfer Office, which allowed projects to not only respond to formal questions posed by the evaluation team but also create connections between project teams.

The evaluation is being conducted through multiple methods including a workshop and an online survey, which will aim to answer a key question, highlighted by Tamsin Mann, Associate Director at Knowledge Exchange UK (KEUK) at the outset: ‘Are shared TTOs the answer to supporting universities with smaller research portfolios to combine expertise and capabilities to create and support spin outs?’

The task was not to arrive at a neat answer to that question but, rather, to draw out evidence to look at how universities have the capability and capacity to make a shared TTO work.

From the workshop early findings have shown:

• Timescales had both positive and negative impacts on the pilots with one project being enthusiastic about the short, sharp timescale for application and delivery.
• Project ambitions have been met, with some exceeding goals, including through securing further funding to support ongoing activities.
• Continued legacy of projects was highlighted through ongoing collaboration agreements and shared principles and guidance.

Already, some very tangible outputs are clear.  The wider impact of allocating funding – always in short supply – to dedicate to collaborative, commercialisation activity is also demonstrable from the survey and feedback in the room.

The Shared TTO pilot: Addressing scale and collaboration in spinouts

The Shared TTO pilot was launched in May 2024 and responds to a recommendation in the Independent Review of University Spinout Companies (November 2023). The Review identified a need to build scale and critical mass in the spinout space, either by incentivising collaboration between large TTOs and institutions with few or no commercialisation staff, or by stimulating collaboration along other lines such as region, industry sector or discipline. Thirteen projects encompassing 81 unique organisations were funded up to £500,000 for a six-month pilot to demonstrate the viability (or otherwise) of their approach. HEPs from all Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) clusters were represented, which was important in the context of the original ‘ask’. Equally importantly, investors were amongst the external partners involved in many projects.

This pilot continues to underline the appetite for collaboration between universities shown in earlier CCF-RED projects. They also show how universities are open to sharing expertise when it comes to spin-outs – understanding the high value that is put on this activity by the UK government – and the value of external partners to drive that change against tight timescales, ‘laying the ground’ through preparatory work – such as an audit of commercialisation policies – for the benefit of multiple HEP partners.

Louise Wall, Head of Knowledge Exchange Strategic Projects & Partnerships at Research England said:

“Today’s workshop with these 13 exciting collaborations has brought together a wide variety of partners across all regions of England, to provide valuable insights and learnings on the opportunities of sharing tech transfer functions which will be captured through this evaluation process. These successful pilot projects support the Government’s economic growth agenda, and form a key part of Research England’s role in delivering the recommendations from the independent review of university spin-out companies published in 2023.”

Stuart Wilkinson, CEO at Knowledge Exchange UK said:

“It is important for the Knowledge Exchange ecosystem to support the commercialisation of research from a diverse range of institutions, enabling commercial impact that drives growth across the UK. The shared Research England TTO pilot projects provide a valuable opportunity to explore and learn from different models that can help a wide variety of institutions collaborate and share expertise. As the UK’s professional body, Knowledge Exchange UK is pleased to support the evaluation of these pilots and to share the resulting best practice.”

The Shared TTO pilot projects evaluation report will be published in the autumn.