University of Ulster aims to start €16m venture capital fund

The University of Ulster is in negotiations to establish a £10 million sterling (€16 million) venture capital fund in Northern Ireland that would focus exclusively on university spin-out companies.

Senior executives from the university are understood to have held talks with American investment bodies and finance sources in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The University of Ulster is one of the key promoters in the drive to encourage graduates and academics to set up high-tech businesses.

It has established a separate company, the Ulster Science Parks. It provides both incubation facilities and research and development links to the university for new start-ups on three campus sites in Northern Ireland.

One of the university's most successful spin-outs to date is MINEit, the award-winning Belfast-based software company that develops market analysis software for e-businesses.

MINEit began life as a spin-off from the University of Ulster. Its chief executive officer, Mr Maurice Mulvenna, and a number of the company's co-founders had been academics and research fellows at the university.

Prof John Hughes, pro-vice chancellor of research and development at the University of Ulster, believes a focused venture capital fund could help support other new high-tech start-ups.

"We believe there is a gap in funding for entrepreneurs seeking larger amounts of start-up capital in Northern Ireland.

"It is relatively easy to secure £500,000 to £1 million of initial finance but for some high-tech start-ups, particularly in the biotechnology sector, this is just a drop in the ocean," Prof Hughes said.

He said the university was progressing plans to establish a dedicated venture capital fund, which would focus on opportunities at the University of Ulster.

"We are looking closely at a number of issues but we are more likely to establish a venture capital fund to focus on biotechnology start-ups in the first instance. This is one area where the university has an international reputation of expertise and where there has been a number of successful spin-outs," Prof Hughes added.

The potential fund has already attracted a number of expressions of interest from investors, he said.

"We have had a good response from two American entrepreneurs and we are also looking at the possibility of attracting funding from private individuals. We are making good progress and we would like to think that we could establish a venture capital fund early next year," he added.

Meanwhile, the university yesterday launched a virtual campus. Campus One, which is being billed as a "University at Your Fingertips" and will provide an online portal through which all of the University of Ulster's e-learning courses will be available worldwide.

It is the first e-learning network of its kind in the UK and Ireland and has been developed in association with academic partners in the US and Hong Kong.