Ulster University: Delivering innovative research-based solutions to business

In a rapidly changing world, businesses and industries need to adapt to meet the shifting needs of their customers, consumers and employees. This can be a daunting task for businesses if they lack the skills and capabilities to respond. In other cases, businesses may have ideas which can guarantee their future but do not have the skills, expertise or technologies to help them realise your ambition.

This is leading an increasing number of businesses to turn to Ulster University for assistance. Each year, hundreds of businesses work directly with the university’s researchers and academics to develop and deliver innovative research-based solutions in a range of areas such as new product development, core research, solving a technical problem, or simply driving internal efficiencies.

There are two main routes through which the university shares its knowledge, expertise and research capacity with industry partners, according to the university’s head of innovation and impact Alex Chacko.

“The first is where the intellectual property (IP) comes out of university research and the university owns it,” he explains. “Our job is to try to find a commercial market for that. We support researchers in getting their IP to the market and the end-user. Increasingly, we are doing that through spin-out companies.”

He points out that PhD students are frequently the technical experts in these companies. “Only a very small number of PhDs go on to academic careers, but they are very clever, smart people who can take on roles in start-up companies,” he says. “They can be technology or scientific leaders or sometimes the chief executive. Very often the most important part of our role is supporting the formation of the start-up team. Investors want to see a strong team around the IP.”

That can be a team made up of researchers from within the university along with a chief executive who comes from outside, he adds.

Technology

“It is the combination of technology and the team that becomes attractive to investors,” says Chacko. “We help the teams to approach investors and we provide some cash from the university to get them through the early period. Once they get over the start line, we don’t run the company for them, but we may take a seat on the board. The company may licence or acquire the IP and we will take an equity share in return. We don’t take both royalties and equity. It’s either one or the other, there would be a conflict otherwise.”

Another aspect of that technology sharing is where the university licenses the IP to an existing company in the sector. “In the healthcare area, if we have developed a new therapy, we might bring in a partner to take licence in return for royalties.”

Very often that partner would be a sector expert but it’s getting more and more difficult to find them, Chacko notes. “University technologies are at a very early stage and a lot of big pharma companies want to go for later stage technologies by acquiring them from a smaller company or even acquiring the company. They have unwound their own R&D departments over the past 10 years. The trend is towards these technologies being developed by start-ups formed in universities.”

Collaborative research between the university and the private sector is also important. “A lot of established companies like to build a co-development relationship. That gives them line of sight on our research pipeline, and they can dip their toe in the water that way. Another growth area is sponsored research where a company will fund some or all of the research project in return for a licence or a share in the IP.”

Knowledge exchange

The second category Chacko refers to is knowledge exchange. This is where a company comes to the university with a specific problem and wants to access university knowledge and expertise in solving it.

This can take the form of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership funded by Innovate. This sees the company and university put in an application to Innovate UK to get a grant to pay the salary of a researcher. “The researcher works partly in the company and partly in the university lab to solve the problem. This is extremely popular and is a really good way of building relationships. The grants often lead on to other collaborative projects.”

The InterTradeIreland Innovation Boost programme is another funded scheme. “This funds a graduate to work between a Northern Ireland university and a Republic of Ireland SME – or vice versa, in a similar way to the Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme. Ulster University has a number of recent Innovation Boost projects with companies in the Republic of Ireland.”

Outside of the Knowledge Transfer Programme, companies can come to the university with a problem to solve. “At the base level they can apply for an innovation voucher worth £5,000 from Invest NI to fund a small project for a researcher to work on. This is a very good way to start. They can come straight to the university for consultancy assistance or other knowledge exchange activities. There is a lot of that done. These projects can range from just one or two days to a lot longer. Companies experiencing technical challenges can come and look for help. They can come to the Technology Transfer Office, and we are open to any form of arrangements with any company.”

Looking ahead, Chacko says, the university is constantly looking at ways to collaborate with businesses and with more R&D intensive companies. “During the last two years it has been more difficult to get out and about to meet people and develop relationships, but hopefully we will now be about to do more of that again.”