Author: kirsty.lewis

It’s National Pet Month and with a twist on “meet the team” here are the UoB commercialisation team’s little beasties and besties:

#innovation #nationalpetmonth #meettheteam

Bristol and Bath spin-out company, Ceryx Medical, has appointed Chas Taylor as Chairman. He brings with him decades of experience in developing and leading medical device companies. Ceryx are developing an evolutionary technology that could significantly change the way patients with serious heart problems are treated and this new appointment will help drive the acceleration of the technology towards clinic.

https://news.lifesciencenewswire.com/newsroom/ceryx-medical-appoints-chas-taylor-as-chairman

University of Bristol spin-out company CytoSeek has raised £3.5 million to accelerate the development of new cell therapies to treat solid tumours in cancer patients, based on the research of Adam Perriman, Professor of Bioengineering in the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. The funding round is led by Science Creates Ventures (SCV), a new Bristol based fund for science and engineering start-ups. Read the University’s press release. 

 

Spin-out from the University’s Bristol Composites Institute, Actuation Lab, is rethinking industrial hardware to increase the reliability and reduce the environmental impact of our mechanised industries. The company was founded in 2019 by three engineering academics who had the drive to commercialise their mechanical innovation, the Callimorph® actuator. The Callimorph® is a device that is designed to keep machines moving without succumbing to corrosion, thus preventing the crippling costs associated with unplanned downtime in the energy, marine and mining industries.

Following a significant recent investment, the award-winning company has taken up residence at Bristol’s National Composites Centre (NCC). The NCC provides access to some of the most advanced composite manufacturing capabilities in the world, so this move will significantly bolster Actuation Lab’s R&D activities and foster an exciting stage of business development.

Simon Bates, CEO at Actuation Lab said:

“The NCC is absolutely the right place for Actuation Lab to live and grow from for the next 18 months. As well as having our own secure lab space on site, the NCC have partnered with us on a pivotal Innovate UK funded project, which will see our Callimorph® actuator rapidly progress towards a marketable product.”

Leah Rider, Head of SME delivery at the NCC commented:

“We are delighted to have Actuation Lab here at the NCC, and we are working with them to provide facilities they need to support them at this important time in their development. SMEs are such an important part of the UK industry, and we want to help as many as possible take advantage of the many benefits composite materials can offer, including giving them the support to test and develop their innovations on-site at our Bristol facility.”

The investment and NCC move follows what has been a successful year for Actuation Lab. In 2020, the company was awarded £100k of equity free funding and TechX accelerator support from the OGTC, Aberdeen. This programme immersed the founding team in the Energy Industry and led to Actuation Lab winning a SBRI R&D Contract to explore how the company’s technology could be applied to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes.

In February this year, the founders also welcomed UoB Honorary Industrial Fellow Dr Steve Kitson to the board, appointing their long-supporting mentor as Chair. Steve has a wealth of experience in aiding technology companies to achieve their potential, and as a fellow technology pioneer, this appointment helps cement Actuation Lab’s reputation as a company to watch in the deep-tech hardware space. Actuation Lab is now hiring.

Congratulations to spin-out company Exonate who have reached their first patient milestone.  Exonate aims to improve the treatment of patients with retinal vascular diseases, transforming the lives of those with sight loss with an eye drop to treat wet AMD and DME. As part of a randomised multicentre trial, the patients, who are in treatment at retinal centres in Australia, will be given either a placebo or a dose of EXN 407, the lead chemical compound in Exonate’s eye drops. The clinical trial is the culmination of an extensive period of research, which involved academics from the University of Bristol in its early stages, including Professor Dave Bates, formerly of Bristol’s School of Physiology and Pharmacology, now at the University of Nottingham. https://www.exonate.com/updates/

University social enterprise spin out IRISi focuses on promoting and improving the healthcare response to gender based violence, with Professor Gene Feder at the Bristol Medical School being the lead academic at UoB. IRISi is launching a new product – IRIS ADViSE (Assessing for Domestic Violence and Abuse in Sexual Health Environments), an initiative that supports sexual health staff to identify and respond to patients affected by domestic violence and abuse (DVA), helping to refer them on to specialist services.

 

The commercialisation team supported 3 academic teams from September to December 2020 on the SETsquared Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research programme (ICURe). All have now been confirmed as potential spin out companies and can therefore apply for Innovate UK funding worth c.£300k. The teams were:

• Technology for rapid adaptation of crops in a changing global environment
• Recycled High-Performance Discontinuous Fibre Composites for a Sustainable Future;
• PoliValve: The next heart valve prosthesis generation.

Great news!

University spin out company Glaia was featured in an interview on BBC Radio 4 on Friday 15th January by Tom Heap as part of his new program “39 Ways to Save the Planet”.

Glaia (https://www.glaia.co.uk/) is developing technology to enhance crop productivity, “sugar-dots” are a new type of yield enhancers, a synthetic analogue of a naturally-occurring carbon-based nano-material capable of increasing photosynthetic efficiency and thereby increasing crop yields. Listen to the interview.

The Research Commercialisation team continue to attend events and conferences where we can, and James has recently been busy with health science and medical technology attending:

Translating Genomics in Oncology 2020: A virtual event co-hosted by Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre’s Onco-Innovation Programme, Early Detection Programme and Cambridge University’s University Enterprise Zone to increase awareness of entrepreneurship opportunities related to genomics in oncology, and foster multidisciplinary collaboration to solve key challenges across the entire patient pathway from risk prediction to treatment monitoring.

MedTech Integrates inaugural conference: A one-day virtual gathering of technology, diagnostics, devices and therapeutics organisations as well as clinicians and regulators, this event provided a platform to discuss the major challenges impacting the MedTech sector.

10th November 2020

Do you have a great tech business idea, but don’t know where to start? Or are you unsure what to do next in order to grow your technology company? Then sign up for #Idea2Pitch event hosted by SETsquared Bristol and part of Bristol Technology Festival, to help hone your ideas, and shape them into a pitch for gaining interest or support in your venture.

This event is designed for non-SETsquared members. Tech founders or aspiring tech entrepreneurs of all levels and backgrounds are welcome to apply to attend. The event will take place in a small group at Engine Shed (unless government guidelines change in the lead-up, in which case it will be moved online).

#Idea2Pitch includes an interactive workshop on what makes a good business idea, and how to pitch it for maximum effect, and an introduction to SETsquared, the Global No.1 university-backed business incubator.

Workshop leader: Greville Commins, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at SETsquared

#Idea2Pitch taught us how to create a memorable elevator pitch that is simple to understand and easy to deliver anywhere, anytime. I learned that the goal of a pitch should be to get to the next stage with your audience and that the ask should always be crystal clear.

From this workshop onwards and we had some huge successes like being the overall winners of the University of Bristol’s New Enterprise Competition! For me, they gave me the taste of what an experienced presenter sounds like, the courage to keep trying and the confidence to stand up and pitch until it becomes perfect!”

Konstantina Psoma, Founder and CEO of Kaedim

Schedule:

13.30 – 14.00 Intro to SETsquared – Paul Forster (SETsquared Community Manager)

14.00 – 15.00 What makes a good business idea? – Greville Commins (Entrepreneur in Residence)

15.00 – 15.15 Break

15.15 – 16.30 Developing an elevator pitch workshop – Greville Commins (Entrepreneur in Residence)

16.30 – 17.00 Pitch practice

Please apply to attend this session by answering the questions fully in the booking form, and we will let you know if your application has been successful. We have a limited number of spaces available and will be selecting participants based on SETsquared’s ability to help you develop your business ideas. Please let us know asap if you cannot make the course so your space can be offered to someone else.

SETsquared Bristol is a University of Bristol-led tech incubator, supporting tech founders to grow businesses. It has incubated over 250 companies to date, with over £500 million raised. It provides a dynamic, collaborative and supportive environment supporting its members with high-quality, bespoke business support and expertise. It was named ‘Hottest Accelerator in Europe’ at The Europas Awards 2020, and ‘Global #1 University Business Incubator’ in 2019, 2017 and 2015 as part of the SETsquared Partnership.