Guest

Alex Stockham, communications manager at In-Part, looks at the challenges surrounding international collaborations.

Having invested a little over £100m ($134m) into its portfolio over the past two financial years, venture capital firm Arix Bioscience is building a considerable reputation for itself in the life sciences segment.

When an embattled venture capital investor’s plans have been derailed by budgetary constraints, the stage is set for another backer to step in with the capital to galvanise their portfolio businesses.

Bibliotech, First Light Fusion, Neurovalens Health, What3Words and Tropic Biosciences competed in this year’s Future Planet Awards at the GUV: Fusion conference.

At the start of the year, we celebrated In-Part’s fifth birthday. Since the platform was launched in 2014, we have initiated close to 5,000 new conversations between academia and industry.

With an emphasis on big-ticket items such as tax cuts and infrastructure in a bid to win the Australian election, the federal budget was sadly lacking in measures to support startups, with very little in the way of direct assistance for the local innovation industry.

Sometimes one bottom line is not enough. Many investors are no longer satisfied simply by turning a profit. More and more also want their investments to generate a positive impact in the world.

Anne Dobrée, head of Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds, talks to editor Thierry Heles about the unit’s work and the evolution of university venturing over the past two decades.