IP Group signs £5m spin-out deal with Manchester Uni

THE University of Manchester has signed a £5m deal with a business specialising in  helping academic institutions take technology innovations to market via new spin-out companies.
 
The commercialisation deal with the IP Group, a London-based business will see the creation of a Proof of Principle funding facility for the identification and formation of new spin-out companies.

IP Group, which is listed on the Stock Market, has agreed to invest an initial £5m into the new spin-out businesses, in return for an equity stake in them. The deal will last for up to five years.

IP Group also has the right to invest further in these companies as they progress.  It will also provide access to its relevant experts, business building expertise, mentoring, coaching and co-investing networks, recruitment and business support.

The partnership will be operated by the university’s technology transfer company, UMI3 Limited. It will focus on the following sectors: materials and clean technology; electronics and communications and all non-therapeutic life, medical and human sciences and information technology.

The University of Manchester is one of the country’s major research universities and has a long history of innovation, having designed and built the world’s first stored-program electronic digital computer.

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.

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.

“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, chief executive 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.

“I’m sure that this arrangement will be successful in improving the scale, quality and speed of companies spinning out from the University.”