Manchester Entrepreneurs is just one of over 85 enterprise societies in the Higher education network, and beat off stiff competition to scoop the "University Society of the Year" Award. This award was designed to recognise diverse events, competitions and activities, which help students to engage with enterprise and entrepreneurship, and serve as a platform to develop more businesses in the community. The society has been able to help student startups connect with incubators and investors from the Greater Manchester area whilst hosting over 35 events that range from inspirational talks to educational workshops and conferences. 

Dan Sodergren, one of the judges, said: “Manchester entrepreneurs becoming the NACUE University Society of the Year in 2013 is testimony not only to the great marketing work of this years' crop of new talent but of four years hard work which finally has been noticed. What other society has had such a viral marketing campaign? With 800,000 YouTube views and counting. Truly impressive. Very proud to have been a small part of it all.” 

Manchester Entrepreneurs were launched in 2008 bringing together a small community of young leaders through inspirational TEDx-like talks. This attracted a young audience from all over Manchester, growing from 70 members in 2008 to 700 in 2009, to 3000 members during presidency of Stan Reinholds in 2011, and finally to over 4000 today with Fahim Sachedina stepping down from the post.

Fahim Sachedina, President of Manchester Entrepreneurs 2012-13, said: “It is a truly remarkable achievement for the society to have come so far as to be recognised on a national level. Manchester Entrepreneurs always strives to push boundaries and encourage members to have the belief that they can succeed and this year the society has felt as if it’s announced itself as being an integral part of the entrepreneurial scene. The society only wants to keep pushing the bar higher and higher, and encourage more talented individuals to think about setting up a business.” 

Richard Kuti, Head of Network stated; “Manchester Entrepreneurs have shown the ability to design and deliver an amazingly diverse programme of activity for their members. They’ve contributed to the personal development of many students along the way and are a fantastic example of this new generation of entrepreneurial students. This Award recognises that achievement and the impact they’ve had in this academic year, and is a landmark for everyone in the network.”

More information about Manchester Entrepreneurs can be found at www.manchesterentrepreneurs.org.uk

The Acoustek® technology has already proven its value in the oil and gas industry where it is routinely deployed to monitor pipelines to detect blockages and leaks up to 10km away.

Now new applications of this versatile technology are being explored through collaboration with a range of partners and adaptations of the technology to new customer needs. For example, gas network companies are able to use the technology to find blockages due to water ingress into gas mains more accurately than by use of existing methods. This avoids digging up roads un-necessarily and more rapid resumption of service to customers.

Separately, a highly successful collaboration with Phoenix Inspection Systems Ltd, based in Warrington, has adapted the Acoustek® technology for use at short distances to detect manufacturing defects in heat exchanger tubes, enabling better quality control on these products.

Barry Lennox, Professor of Applied Control at The University of Manchester, commented: “The work with Phoenix has proven to be highly successful, with a commercial product expected to be available within the next six months.

Through our engagement with the Energy Innovation Centre and this awards programme, we are hopeful that we will shortly secure funding to develop an acoustic tool specifically for surveying gas distribution networks.”

The awards are backed by the UK’s leading gas and electricity networks including Scotia Gas Networks Plc, SP Energy Networks, UK Power Networks, Northern Gas Networks, Northern Powergrid, National Grid, Electricity North West, SSE and Wales and West Utilities.

“To win this competition is fantastic. We now head to the finals over in the USA with the opportunity to pitch for big investment into our business. The last year has been amazing for us – and with the fantastic support from UMIC and IQuBit in giving us a space to work from we’ve been able to concentrate our efforts on developing the business,” commented Co-Founder, Matthias Schmid.

They now progress to the world finals of the Rice University International Business Plan Competition in Houston, Texas in April where they will compete with 41 other finalists from across the globe. The team members Shiraz Anwar, Matthias Schmid and David K Reetz all studied on the MSc Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship degree programme at Manchester Business School and won the University’s business start-up competition, Venture Further, in 2012.

“By reaching the European final and winning we have some great opportunities opening up for us. We’ve already spoken to a number of potential investors and we’ll be bidding to win part of a $1 million-plus prize fund in the Rice University Business Plan Competition in April,” commented Co-Founder, David K Reetz

The team successfully came through a ‘shark tank’ presentation in the first round with tough questioning from the judging panel throughout. They progressed to the final round with five other teams, and presented their business plan to another panel of judges before performing an elevator pitch. The judging panels consisted of high profile entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from around Europe and the team have received interest from a number of potential investors.

“It’s thanks to the enterprise team at Manchester Business School, and their support in our business plan for the Venture Further competition last year, that we have been able to develop our business to this point and now UMIC and IQuBit are helping us to grow the business with office space and startup specific mentoring and support,” commented Shiraz Anwar,Co-Founder.

About the Company

Kaffeination Ltd is the company behind UPs Solid Energy and was founded in May 2012 as a spin-out of Manchester Business School. The name reflects two primary aspects of the firm. First, the company produces innovative caffeine based products and second, ‘nation’ reflects the international composition of the team. It comprises three University of Manchester postgraduate students from the MSc for Innovation Management and Entre- preneurship program and a fourth director, who graduated from the Dresden University of Technology in Germany. Currently, Kaffeination is a start-up business that successfully launched their product UPs Solid Energy mid January 2013 in Manchester targeting the local student market for proof of concept.

For more information, please visit: http://www.kaffeination.com/

Inspirational workshops such as the Social Enterprise Brief Case (SEBC) has really motivated individuals to come forward and submit applications. The sustainability of a social enterprise idea is one of the key points to address for the competition and by participating in workshops and utilising tools such as the Brief Case individuals can be guided through the thought process to produce a well-rounded proposal.

The Social Enterprise Brief Case, a workshop and workbook designed by specialist innovation company Novomodo Ltd, to inspire social enterprise thinking in Higher Education was recently launched at The University of Manchester Innovation Centre. Twenty five attendees including members of staff, postgraduate and undergraduate students experienced a blend of tools and techniques to help them think about social enterprise and put their ideas in motion. A series of surgeries on specific ideas was run in parallel to the main group sessions.

The Social Enterprise Brief Case workbook has been designed to assist University members of staff or students in addressing the key building blocks of a social enterprise, utilising easy to use tools to help them along the journey. It allows users to put together an outline describing their idea and how they would implement it (the ‘Brief Case’) so they can apply for funding to try it out.

To find out more about the Social Enterprise Brief Case contact Novomodo Ltd on info@novomodo.co.uk

Activating Impact is a new competition created to celebrate the work of successful Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC) teams or individuals that make essential contributions in turning excellent bioscience research supported by BBSRC into real-life applications. The University of Manchester places great emphasis on KEC and through its Faculty of Life Sciences (FLS) is a major recipient of funding from the BBSRC.

Professor Ian Kimber, FLS’s Associate Dean for Business Development has been working closely with Dr Rich Ferrie, Head of UMIP, to ensure intimate connectivity between the researchers and IP specialists.

This has contributed to the successful transfer of technology and resultant healthcare impact over many years with Ai2 Ltd and Conformetrix as just two examples recognised by the judges. As joint runners-up, The University and UMIP will receive £25,000 which will help appoint an “IP Impact Officer” for one year to work closely with Professor Kimber and Dr Rich Ferrie on a pilot programme aimed at maximising impact from the pool of IP emanating from FLS.

Professor Ian Kimber comments: “I was delighted to learn that our bid ‘Activating Impact’ was awarded joint second place in the last night’s finals. I believe this achievement recognises our commitment to developing new models and new mechanisms to ensure that the fruits of our investment in research are exploited quickly and effectively to deliver real health and economic benefits.”

Ai2 Ltd has developed anti-infective peptide technology for use in ophthalmics and in medical devices, such as urinary catheters and stents as well being utilised in wound dressings and consumer products. Conformetrix’s platform technology uses nuclear magnetic resonance analysis to determine 3D molecular structures of drug compounds with high accuracy. This is a world first capability which enables Conformetrix to develop a pipeline of proprietary drugs against therapeutically important targets.

Congratulations go to The University of Edinburgh/Research and Innovation Ltd & The Roslin Institute as category winners and also to The University of Cambridge/Cambridge Enterprise Ltd as joint-runners up.

BBSRC CEO Professor Douglas Kell, Dr Andrew Almond, Conformetrix Ltd, Dr Curtis Dobson, Ai2 Ltd, Allan Prits, UMI3 Ltd. Photo courtesy of Tim Gander © 2013

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, talks to the team. Photos courtesy of Tim Gander © 2013

‘Tech Country’ highlights five key clusters of successful business outside of London: Cambridge, Manchester, Bristol, Aberdeen and Birmingham that have the potential to bring enormous economic and social benefits to the UK as a whole.

The launch included opening remarks by Professor Rod Coombs, the University’s Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, an overview of the report by James Clark of the BVCA followed by a panel debate featuring successful entrepreneurs from the locations featured in the report and a drinks reception.

James Clark commented: “The BVCA’s objective for Tech Country was to return the focus of our political leaders to the regions by highlighting the role that organisations like UMIᶟ will play in forming the technological future of this country. The event showed the enormous potential of the emerging technology cluster in Manchester, provided the grass roots efforts of the technological, entrepreneurial, and investment community are properly supported.”

You can read the executive summary and download the full report from the BVCA’s website

James Clark, BVCA

The University of Manchester, a member of the Russell Group, is one of the country’s major research universities. According to the results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, the University is rated third in the UK in terms of ‘research power’, behind only Oxford and Cambridge. The University has a long history of innovation, having designed and built the world's first stored-program electronic digital computer as well as being responsible for the birth of ‘aeroacoustics’ (how to minimise sound created in jet engines). It is now also the home of the BP International Centre for Advanced Materials, the National Graphene Institute and the project office of the Square Kilometre Array at The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory.

Under the terms of the agreement, IP Group will create a Proof of Principle (“PoP”) funding facility for the identification and formation of new spin-out companies. The Group has agreed to make available an initial facility of up to £5 million to provide capital to new proof of principle projects intended for commercialisation through spin-out companies. In return, IP Group will receive equity stakes in such spin-out companies on pre-agreed terms. IP Group has the right to invest further in these companies as they progress.  In addition, IP Group will provide access to its relevant experts, business building expertise, mentoring, coaching and co-investing networks, recruitment and business support.

The agreement, which is a for a minimum term of four years, or five years subject to certain conditions, covers the majority of the areas of materials and clean technology, electronics and communications and all non-therapeutic life, medical and human sciences and information technology.

Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, said: “Manchester has an outstanding reputation in research, ranking third in the UK, as well as an impressive track record of innovation. This agreement augments our existing partnerships while also giving the Group access to an additional source of extremely high quality dealflow. We have been impressed not only with the pipeline of opportunities at the University but also with the professionalism of the technology transfer team. We are pleased to have entered into this agreement and look forward to working with the UMI3 team and making our first investments.”

Clive Rowland, CEO of the University of Manchester Innovation Group, said: “IP Group offers excellent access to public market funding and expertise in university technology transfer developed over many years, and at a significant scale, which will be very valuable to the University in continuing to expand its spin-out activities. A far horizon of proof-of-principle and connected follow-on funding is critical to the success of university propositions, as is a deep understanding of early stage technology investing which makes IP Group an ideal partner for us. Therefore we are very pleased to see IP Group as part of the University’s enterprise community. I’m sure that this arrangement will be successful in improving the scale, quality and speed of companies spinning out from the University.”

For more information, please contact:

Notes for editors

About IP Group

IP Group is a leading UK intellectual property ("IP") commercialisation company, developing technology innovations primarily from its research intensive partner universities. The Group offers more than traditional venture capital, providing its companies with access to business building expertise, networks, recruitment and business support.

The Company's portfolio comprises holdings in over 60 companies including Oxford Nanopore Technologies, the DNA sequencing development company, Revolymer, best known for its removable chewing gum and Xeros, which has received many accolades for its revolutionary clothes washing techniques with a much reduced requirement for water.

The portfolio includes early stage to mature businesses and has exposure to five main sectors – Energy & Renewables, Medical Equipment & Supplies, Pharma & Biotech, IT & Communications and Chemicals & Materials. To date, fifteen of the portfolio companies IP Group has backed have listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and one on ISDX.

Founded in 2001, IP Group listed on AIM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006.

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com.

About the University of Manchester

Established in 1824, The University of Manchester is a member of the Russell Group and is one of is the most popular universities in the UK.

Key facts:

> Four faculties, 20 academic schools and hundreds of specialist research groups undertaking pioneering multi-disciplinary teaching and research of worldwide significance

> Over 5,500 academic and research staff

> Over £271 million in external research funding in 2011/12

> 25 Nobel Prize winners amongst its current and former staff and students

According to the results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, The University of Manchester is now one of the country’s major research universities, rated third in the UK in terms of ‘research power’. The University had an annual income of £807 million in 2011/12.

www.manchester.ac.uk

About UMI3 Ltd

The University of Manchester Innovation Group (UMI3 Ltd) is the University’s innovation company. Since 2004, through UMIP, its technology transfer division, its achievements include:

> Over 2,300 invention disclosures received

> 30 spin-out companies created

> Over 310 licences and assignments

> £32M UMIP Premier Fund

> £225M has been invested by venture funders in University of Manchester spin-outs

> £55M + generated by IP Enterprises

The University of Manchester has over a 20 year history of IP commercialisation.

www.umi3.com

Ends

Prior to joining AstraZeneca in 2003, Dr. Rex was Professor of Medicine at the
University of Texas Medical School-Houston. Dr. Rex has been the Industry
Representative on the US FDA Anti-Infective Drug Advisory Committee (2007-
2011), is Vice-Chair of the Consensus Committee on Microbiology for the Clinical
Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, formerly NCCLS), is a Highlights Advisor
for Nature Reviews Microbiology, is a member of the Wellcome Trust Seeding
Drug Discovery Committee, serves on several editorial boards, was formerly an
Editor for Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, and is an Emeritus Editor for
www.doctorfungus.org, a non-profit web site devoted to dissemination of
information about medical mycology.

Dr. Richard White, Executive Chairman of F2G, commented, “We are delighted
to have John join the board and look forward to benefiting from the breadth and
depth of his knowledge and experience in the antifungal arena”.

Dr. Rex will become a key member of the Board’s Science Committee, chaired
by Dr. Raj Parekh, who remarked “John’s counsel will be critical in helping F2G
successfully develop its totally novel class of drugs to treat Aspergillosis – a
potentially life-threatening infection usually affecting the lungs.”

Dr. Rex, who will continue his role at AstraZeneca, added, “This is an exciting
time to be involved with F2G and participate in bringing a new class of antifungal
agents into clinical practice. Aspergillosis remains a serious disease in an era of
increasing resistance with few treatment options. In addition, I view this
opportunity to work with F2G as a chance to collaborate and bring insights from
the biotechnology sector into the anti-infective development work at
AstraZeneca.”

About F2G Ltd: Based in Manchester, UK, F2G Ltd is dedicated to the discovery
and development of new and clinically superior drug classes to treat lifethreatening
systemic fungal infections in at-risk patient populations. This is a
growing health risk for which there are currently limited treatment options and for
which demand is increasing globally Market growth is expected to increase with
the emergence of new clinical indications in allergies and asthma.

For more information visit www.f2g.com
 

The European Commission has announced that it is providing 1bn euros over 10 years for research and development into graphene – the ‘wonder material’ isolated at The University of Manchester by Nobel Prize winners Professors  Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov.

The University is very active in technology transfer and has an excellent track-record of spinning out technology, but some think that the University has taken a different view when it comes to patenting and commercialising graphene.  Others have expressed a broader concern about British Industry lagging behind in the graphene ‘race’, based upon international ‘league tables’ of numbers of graphene patents.

A recent interview with Clive Rowland (CEO of the University’s Innovation Group) addresses the assumptions about the University’s approach and reflects more generally about graphene patenting and about industry up-take of graphene.   The interview is summarised below.

Question

Has the University set up any commercial graphene activities?

Answer

The University owns a company, called 2-DTech Limited, which makes and supplies two-dimensional materials and has an interest in another, Graphene Industries Limited, which sells graphene made by a different technique to 2-DTech.

Question

Is the University falling behind in graphene?

Answer

The University is the world’s leading university for graphene research and publications.  It led the charge for UK investment into the field and has been awarded The National Graphene Institute, which will be a £61m state-of-the art centre.  This Institute will act as a focus for all sorts of commercial graphene activity in Manchester, from industrial research and development laboratories locating “alongside” the Institute, developing new processes and products, to start-up companies.  The University championed the major flagship research funding programmes that have been initiated in the UK and Europe and has been awarded a number of prestigious grants.  Graphene is still a science-driven research field and not yet a commercialised technology.

Question

Did the University miss the patent opportunities for graphene when it was first isolated?

Answer

All options were considered thoroughly prior to and immediately post the initial 2004 publication. There were no credible or commercially valuable patent options at that time, something with which experts in the field agree. The material will need to be modified for most applications.  The key is a scaled-up manufacturing technology platform which no-one has yet come up with. The University has patented where it sees good cases for doing so.  These are based upon internal development projects on the fundamentals, such as manufacturing and coatings and approaches that enable new techniques which might lead to commercial applications.   The University will continue to patent where it sees potential financial value in doing so. Not all of the University’s intellectual property transfer transactions take place through independent patenting.  Patenting is just a part of the commercial strategy – not the sole aspect, nor a target in itself.

Question

Have British firms lost out to the Far East on patenting?

Answer

The picture is more complex than mere number counting suggests.  Not all of the patents necessarily equal real business opportunities. Some of the patents reference graphene rather than being about graphene technology.   Japanese firms were very active early on but have since been overtaken by Korean and US firms. China is getting very active but much of the patenting there is by research institutions rather than firms, which isn’t the experience elsewhere, so it’s difficult to know the level of corporate capabilities there.  Much of the early work on graphene was – and still is – for electronic and related applications. So much of the patenting activity has been by electronics firms, which reflect that industry’s structure and geography  –  predominantly in the Far East and the US.  Competition in graphene is at an early stage.  There are many significant aspects which aren’t yet addressed.  There is still time.  As the uses of graphene become clearer, more opportunities for British companies will open up.  Nevertheless the window of opportunity could narrow.  It’s vital that more British firms increase their knowledge of two-dimensional materials like graphene.  For Britain to be successful, graphene will need to be treated as a project on a very large scale.  To keep themselves in the picture, British firms should invest now in long-range R&D, and engage in university research partnerships and collaborative projects.   The National Graphene Institute at the University is an excellent place to do this.

Question

Are the Nobel Prize Winners interested in the commercial side of graphene?

Answer

Professor Geim and Professor Novoselov focus on science, which is key to the success of the development aspects that everyone is interested in.  At the same time they have been very supportive of their students engaging in enterprise activities, such as business training courses and start-ups. They both actively lent their support to help set up the two existing companies.  Much of the graphene commercialisation will be through collaboration with companies with the requisite product know-how and manufacturing facilities.  During the last year, more than 100 firms have been to the University to talk with them.  They see everyone that they can to discuss possibilities.  They recognise there’s potential for the University to licence-out graphene intellectual property and they support such efforts by the technology transfer office as appropriate.

You can read the full interview with Clive Rowland at www.umi3.com

Further Information.

Recently published reports by Philip Shapira (Manchester Business School) and colleagues at Georgia Institute of Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Beijing Institute of Technology, set the graphene patenting landscape into context, showing the place that patenting has in an emerging technology field and explore entry strategies adopted by small and medium sized firms in a new field like graphene.

The references are:

“Entry strategies in an emerging technology: a pilot web-based study of graphene firms” by Sanjay K. Arora, Jan Youtie, Philip Shapira, Lidan Gao, TingTing Ma – Scientometrics, January 2013

“Early patterns of commercial activity in graphene” by Philip Shapira, Jan Youtie, Sanjay Arora – Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 14: 811,March 2012.

UMI³ – inspire, invent, innovate

Release date:  18 February 2013

IQuBit at UMIC

On 6^th February, The University of Manchester Innovation Centre, UMIC, welcomed 25 student entrepreneurs to the launch of its digital accelerator, IQuBiT. IQuBit, located in UMIC’s Core Technology Facility on Grafton Street, aims to inspire, invent and innovate a new generation of software, social networking and digital ventures and supports ideas for information and communication technology based products and services created by researchers, students or recent alumni from the University.

Welcoming words were given by UMIP’s Head of Sales and Marketing, Tony Walker and The University’s Vice-President for Research and Innovation, Professor Luke Georghiou, presented the University’s plans both to encourage and further support student entrepreneurship and to facilitate the progression of student innovation through this dedicated facility.

Professor Georghiou explained: “We aim to equip our students with the skills, means and appetite to start up fast-growing businesses that combine the knowledge and education they have received with their own enterprising ideas. IQuBit is an important new development in extending the University’s contribution to economic growth and employment.”

Student entrepreneurs were represented by Fahim Sachedina, President of the Manchester Entrepreneurs Society and Stan Reinholds, Network Officer for the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs, NACUE.

Fahim commented: “IQuBit offers a fantastic opportunity for enterprising students from the University to be able to work and collaborate with other individuals, and take their ambitions to another level. Manchester Entrepreneurs are incredibly grateful to have this opportunity. Our ambition is to be able to foster an enterprising culture at the University and we are one step closer in turning that vision into reality.”

Stan commented further: “The Launch of IQuBit is a landmark event. It is one of few student-led initiatives of its kind in the whole of the UK and I am confident it will impact the wider enterprise community. NACUE will be supporting development of IQuBit from here on, positioning the accelerator as a strong student enterprise hub in Manchester and a recognised high-impact facility in the North of England.”

So if you have an idea, or perhaps are already underway but would like to be based in a supportive environment, or just curious to find out more, please contact us for an informal and confidential discussion.

Ellie Sagar, IQuBit – Assistant Project Manager,ellie.sagar@umi3.com, 0161 606 7265.