TenU will be led by Cambridge Enterprise and act as a forum for sharing best tech transfer practices from leading institutions from the UK, US and Belgium.
Cambridge Enterprise, the tech transfer office of University of Cambridge, is to join nine fellow tech transfer offices from domestic and international universities to explore best practices for commercialising academic research.
Cambridge Enterprise will spearhead the initiative, dubbed TenU, to coordinate insights from universities with a track record in commercialising inventions.
The other nine participants are Columbia University, University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London, KU Leuven, University of Manchester, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Oxford and University College London.
TenU provides an outlet for partners to share, develop and disseminate approaches to research commercialisation. The initiative is being funded by a £300,000 ($380,000) grant from Research England Development, a unit of government funding agency UK Research and Innovation.
Tony Raven, chief executive of Cambridge Enterprise, said: “We welcome this vital support from Research England, which enables us to continue to share, compare and advance international best practice in university research commercialisation for the benefit of our economies and societies locally, nationally and globally.”
Research England Development has also sanctioned the creation of a policy evidence unit for university commercialisation and innovation (UCI) to be helmed by University of Cambridge. UCI will look to action improved data, evidence and insights in order to stimulate the UK’s R&D and innovation output.
The scheme is a partnership between University of Cambridge’s Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and industry-academia collaboration promotion board National Centre for Universities and Business.
