Beyond the Breakthrough with Thierry Heles

David Coleman is the chief executive of University of Birmingham Enterprise, and he’s a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion. That is just one of the topics covered in this interview –he also tells about the importance of MICRA and its ambition to raise a fund, how the TTO has grown over the years and also manages a research park, life science incubator and engages with local entreprene...

Itzik Goldwaser is the president and chief executive of Yissum, the technology transfer company of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and he joins us to discuss how the country’s mandatory army service helps foster an entrepreneurial mindset. He also tells us about his journey from running a Hebrew University spinout to heading its TTO, how the Israel Innovation Authority helps him do his work and wh...

Christy Wyskiel is the executive director of Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures (JHTV), the tech transfer office of Johns Hopkins University, and senior adviser to the president for innovation and entrepreneurship. She reveals why she is so passionate about the Baltimore ecosystem that she goes above and beyond her day job and talks about why having run her own startups gives her a real appreciatio...

Tim Boyle is the director of innovation and commercialisation at nuclear research institute ANSTO and the chair of ATTP, the global body responsible for RTTP accreditation. He joins us to talk about what makes ANSTO different and how a chance encounter on Imperial College London’s campus pushed him into a career in tech transfer. He also talks about why RTTP is so important to the tech transfer pr...

Christina Takke is a managing partner of V-Bio Ventures, a venture capital firm she co-founded to invest in spinouts from research institute VIB and other promising companies across Europe. She tells us why she helped set up V-Bio Ventures, why it is qualitative money that is missing in continental Europe and what can be done to improve the gender ratio in venture capital. She also discusses what...

Rich Chylla is the executive director of MSU Technologies, the tech transfer office of Michigan State University. He joins us on Talking Tech Transfer to discuss the importance of collaboration across institutions and countries, as well as tell us more about his experience of being a chair of AUTM, why MSU Foundation plays a crucial role in his job and why “flyover country” is an unfair – if somet...

Thomas Schmidt is the head of technology transfer at University of Southern Denmark, or SDU, and he joins us on Talking Tech Transfer to discuss the importance of time management skills, the challenges – and opportunities! – of being a regional university, and why senior leaders are the ones who really ought to consider becoming RTTP certified. He also tells us how, with an MA in Marketing and Com...

Jay Schrankler is the associate vice-president and head of the Polsky Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at University of Chicago, having spent the first part of his career in industry. He’s here to tell us about the transformative experience that convinced him to join the world of university tech transfer, what makes the Polsky Center such a unique organisation and why earlier this year i...

Helen McBreen is a partner at Atlantic Bridge, overseeing the spinout-focused University Bridge Fund – backed by Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and University College Cork. She talks about the importance of diversity on both sides of the table and give us an insight into how the fund works with researchers for as long as 18 months before a spinout is formed. She also tells about...

Sean Fielding was, until a couple of weeks ago, the director of innovation, impact and business at University of Exeter, where he built the tech transfer office from scratch in the mid-90s. He joins us on Talking Tech Transfer to discuss how the requirement to generate impact has changed the way universities think about research and his dream of having tech transfer professionals be as celebrated...

Paul Van Dun is the general manager of Leuven Research and Development, the tech transfer office of KU Leuven that has a unique framework which allows faculty to generate income for their labs without incorporating spinouts. He is here to tell us more about this as well as his vision of having universities ranked based on impact, what changes he has seen during his 20-year-long career and how one...

Brijesh Roy, seed investment manager at Imperial College London, started out in hedge fund management before joining Oxford University Innovation and then Mercia. On this episode, he talks about his storied career, why Imperial decided to bring spinout funding back in-house following the Touchstone acquisition and what his vision for a tech transfer operation fit for the 21st century looks like. G...

Michael Kearney is a principal at The Engine, the tough tech incubator and patient capital fund backed by MIT and Harvard, and he joins us to talk not only about the importance of hiring diverse teams (in spinouts and in funds), but also about the highly unique ecosystem in Cambridge, MA and the reasons why the journey of a deep tech founder is fundamentally different. He also tells us why his own...

Jason Whitney, vice-president of venture development at IU Ventures and executive director of the IU Angel Network, joins us to talk about the Angel Network, why it takes care of due diligence for investors and why it emphasises educating angels. He also discusses the origins and purpose of the Sports Innovation Initiative, which focuses on startups in areas as broad as apparel and esports, and re...

Sara Wallin is the relatively new chief executive of Chalmers Ventures, having only joined the incubator and venture arm of Chalmers University of Technology in December 2020. But she brought with her a wealth of experience and on this episode of Talking Tech Transfer she tells us why she took the job at Chalmers, and explains the importance of requiring portfolio companies to pursue one of the UN...

Markus Wanko is the head of technology transfer at Institute of Science and Technology Austria and the founder and managing partner of its venture fund, IST cube. He joins us on Talking Tech Transfer to talk about why he moved into tech transfer after a career working for Qatar Investment Authority, Boston Consulting Group and others, why it was important to become a director of AUTM and what oppo...

We chat with Adam Stoten, the chief operating officer of Oxford University Innovation, about vaccines – not just for covid but also one for tuberculosis he helped develop at a spinout – as well as the importance of REF, KEF and the Knowledge Exchange Concordat, and the success of LAB282. He also exclusively reveals what is next for him personally. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on LinkedIn . Mu...

Matt Perkins has been the chief executive of Oxford University Innovation for just under five years and he joins us to talk not only about why he moved from industry into academia but also about how OUI set up programmes to support diverse founding teams, the impact of Oxford Sciences Innovation on the local ecosystem and the increasing importance of social enterprises as well as why, once the pan...

We chat with Brian McCaul, the CEO of Qubis, the tech transfer company of Queen’s University Belfast, to find out why it continuously finds itself at the top of rankings, why a centralised TTO would not make sense even in a place as small as Northern Ireland and what drew him back into university commercialisation after heading his own startup. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on LinkedIn . Music...

We chat with Alison Campbell, the director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland, the national office responsible for policy, practice and performance of the Irish commercialisation system, about outside recognition of the tech transfer profession, diversity in leadership and working on a report for the European Commission on harmonising knowledge transfer metrics. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on Lin...

We chat with Neil Crabb, chief executive of UK-based commercialisation firm Frontier IP about why the firm expanded into Portugal, why it’s important that there are many different models of university technology transfer out there and why Frontier IP takes a cluster-based approach to its portfolio rather than a sector-based one. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on LinkedIn . Music “Funk Game Loop...

Kirsten Leute, partner, university relations, at Osage University Partnerstells us why diversity is important for a VC investor, why it is the people that make tech transfer such a great career and why it is impossible not to be an optimist working in this field. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on LinkedIn . Music “Funk Game Loop” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) •  Licensed under Creative Common...

In this week’s episode of the Talking Tech Transfer podcast we are joined by Doug Hockstad, assistant Vice President of Tech Launch Arizona, the commercialisation office of University of Arizona. Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on LinkedIn . Music “Funk Game Loop” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) •  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

In this week’s episode of the Talking Tech Transfer podcast we are joined by Silvio Bonaccio, head of ETH transfer, the commercialisation office for ETH Zurich, to discuss how he built the office from scratch two decades ago and turned it into one of the most successful in the world, why spinout survival rates can be misleading and why all that talk about continental Europe not doing a great job c...

Anne Lane, chief executive of University College London’s wholly-owned commercialisation subsidiary UCL Business tells us about the importance of the UCL Technology Fund and Apollo Therapeutics, the advantages of social enterprises and working with carmaker Mercedes on a medical device to aid covid patients in intensive care.   Get in touch Follow Thierry Heles on LinkedIn . Music “Funk Game Loop”...