Share:
With our 10th anniversary year drawing to a close, it's an ideal time to share our Annual Review. It provides a detailed look at Cambridge Enterprise's work in Technology Transfer (both Life Sciences and Physical Sciences), Seed Funds and Consultancy Services during the past fiscal year.
Thanks to the innovative nature of our academic colleagues and hard work of the team here, 2017 has been another exceptional year, with 1,714 researchers supported, 349 consultancy contracts signed, 126 commercial and research licences completed, £16.9 million in operating income raised from licensing and consulting and £13 million in translational funding won with our support.
The numbers, and their growth, are gratifying, but most important are the innovations devised by our academic partners. Among these is a revolutionary new thermocouple cable technology, developed in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy and licensed this past year. Widely used in home appliances (fridges and ovens, for instance), thermocouples have a critical role in aviation. The new thermocouple cable technology will allow jet engines to burn hotter, generating more power whilst also improving fuel efficiency and range.
Among other successes this year, we celebrated the launch of Predictimmune, which is developing tests to determine whether patients newly-diagnosed with Crohn’s have an aggressive or latent form of the disease and of ApcinteX, which is developing a novel therapy for haemophilia.
Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds, which supports the creation of companies based directly on University research or people, made 17 investments totalling £5.2 million in promising spin-out companies in the past year. The team invested in the $95 million launch of Carrick Therapeutics, the largest-ever early stage investment in a UK university spin-out. Seed Funds also returned £1.1 million to the University from realised investments.
Since 2011 eleven companies have either been sold or listed for a combined valuation of £1.3 billion. That cumulative economic impact of the University is just one of many things that make us proud as we enter the second decade of Cambridge Enterprise Limited.
The year ahead—and our next decade—hold great promise for Cambridge Enterprise, thanks to the academics and students we support.
