Say you have a new idea – what you think may be a good way to treat a disease, generate cheap energy, or collaborate on-line. How do you get the idea into the marketplace?
Start your own company, has been the answer over the past decade for a growing number of European researchers.
Come to the awards
Meet Europe’s hottest spin-out companies. Come to the conference and dinner for the ACES Academic Enterprise Awards on 2 December in Stockholm.
Click here for more information.
The jury that will pick the winners on 2 December.
The selection committee that named the finalists.
Videos from the finalists
See videos from the finalists, and from the ACES 2008 winners, here.
Category: Chemistry/Materials
Nominee: Prof. Brian Hayden
Organisation: ILIKA Ltd. – Southampton University
ILIKA specialises in the accelerated development of new materials using high-throughput techniques. The company has developed a novel method of fabricating arrays of diverse thin-film materials, using the vacuum deposition technique, molecular beam epitaxy. This allows elements to be combined in a very controlled and systematic way.
ILIKA has modified the basic technique using a patented system of shutters to create combinatorial arrays of materials. Using this technique, materials development programmes which traditionally took ten years have been compressed to closer to one year. The technology has already yielded significant successes in a number of areas. For example, ILIKA has been successful in finding materials that could underpin the use of hydrogen as a clean fuel in fuel cells.
The company was formed in 2004. After its original seed-investment, it was valued at £1.2 million, a figure which rose to £40 million after the most recent funding round in 2007.
Nominee: Dr. Andrew Lynn
Organisation: Othomimetics Ltd. – Cambridge University
Orthomimetics has developed implants that can be accurately delivered using minimally invasive, single-step procedures. They are based on tissue regeneration scaffolds that support the separate, yet simultaneous, repair of both soft tissue, such as cartilage ligament or tendon, and the bone to which they are anchored.
The biocompatible material can be incorporated into devices for treating cartilage, meniscus, ligament and tendon damage. It has a precisely controlled, interconnected pore structure that allows for cell migration and attachment and encourages a natural, cell regeneration and repair process until the scaffold is fully resorbed. In addition, the material has a shape memory and a distinctive self-contouring capacity, making it easy to implant via minimally invasive methods and ensuring a perfect fit to the defect.
Orthomimetics’ technology was developed as part of collaboration between Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was spun out by Andrew Lynn in March 2005, and raised £5million in its first round in January 2007. The company has also received £2.3 million in grant funding. European CE approval for the first product, Chondromimetic, is expected soon, with FDA approval for the US market expected by the end of 2009.
Nominees: Dr. Mark Moloney, Dr. Jon-Paul Griffiths, Marcelo Bravo
Organisation: Oxford Advanced Surfaces Group PLC – Oxford University
Oxford Advanced Surfaces develops advanced materials using its surface modification technology ONTO, which can be used to treat a broad range of materials. Initial applications include tailored wetting properties, adhesion, metallisation, and bio-activity across a range of markets including:
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Electronics (PCB's, plastic electronics, electromechanical devices and flat displays);
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Industrial specialties (specialty fibres, textiles, laminates and composites);
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Life sciences/health care markets (including sterile surfaces, separation media and microarrays, biomedical materials) and
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Low Carbon Technologies (photovoltaics, advanced lighting, fuel cells)
The company was founded in June 2006 by Dr. Mark Moloney and Dr. Jon-Paul Griffiths, as a spin-out from the Chemistry department at Oxford University. After raising seed finance in September 2006, Oxford Advanced Surfaces Group Plc was formed in December 2007 by the reverse take-over of Kanyon plc.
The ONTO process involves coating the surface, whether in sheet, fabric, powder, pellet or other macro-molecular form, via dip or spray, with a solution of the active agent, followed by curing under thermal or photoirradiation conditions. This generates a molecular layer bonded permanently to the base polymer.The modification of the surface can be carried out to micron precision, allowing the preparation of highly patterned materials. The ONTO process can also be used to give different parts of a surface different functions or properties.
Category: Life Sciences
Nominee: Conor Hanley
Organisation: Biancamed Ltd. – University College Dublin
BiancaMed has developed a wireless sensor for non-contact monitoring of a person’s sleep and breathing in their home. The technology platform has two core elements: a very small, sensitive non-contact motion sensor that uses radio frequency Doppler sensing to detect heart beat and respiration wirelessly at a distance of up to 2 metres, and software that singles out, analyses and converts the raw signals into respiration and heart rate data, which are used to illustrate the quality of the person’s sleep.
If required, these measurements can be transmitted to a central point through the addition of WiFi/Bluetooth and broadband/mobile phone technology. Being both accurate and wire-free differentiates this sleep sensor from others which must be physically attached to the user, via electrodes, armband, mask, watch etc.
Nominee: Dr. Matteo Leonardi
Organisation: Sensimed SG - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Sensimed specialises in the design and development of microtechnologies for medical applications. Its lead product is a soft silicone disposable contact lens which encapsulates a MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical sensor) and a telemetric microprocessor for measuring intraocular pressure for the diagnosis and monitoring of glaucoma.
The MEMS is a strain gauge sensor of very high sensitivity, repeatability and stability, with the ability to measure sub-micron changes in the diameter of the eyeball. It is accompanied by a micro-processor that receives power from an external radio-frequency source, enabling it to perform the measurement on the MEMS sensor, convert the measurement into a digital signal, and send it back to an external recorder.
The micro-processor is thinned down to 50 microns and assembled directly onto the MEMS by a specific flip-chip process. The assembly is then molded inside a contact lens with the required tolerability, shape and safety to be worn for up to 24 hours. The company has succeeded in marrying these technologies in a product that can be manufactured at an acceptable cost, is safe and reliable.
Sensimed recently raised CHF8 million for commercialisation. Clinical trials have begun and the device is expected to get CE approval soon.
Nominees: Dr. Neville H. McClenaghan, Prof. Peter R Flatt, Prof. Finbarr P.M. O’Harte
Organisation: Diabetica Ltd. – University of Ulster
Diabetica, a spin-out from the University of Ulster’s Diabetes Research Group, is developing therapeutics, diagnostics and other technologies for treating Type II diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome. The main focus is on the company’s glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) platform technology, which to date has yielded a first-in-class insulin stimulating GIP agonist, and an insulin-sensitising and weight-loss promoting GIP antagonist. These are based on naturally occurring human peptides.
Diabetica has preclinical data demonstrating that long-term therapeutic GIP antagonism prevents body weight gain and reduces obesity with decreased fat deposition and percentage body fat. The data are consistent with independent studies in GIP receptor knock-out mice and have parallels with the effects of gastric bypass surgery, which involves bypassing the small intestine that contains GIP-producing cells.
In March 2006 the company signed an agreement with the US diabetes specialist Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. worth $41 million plus royalties for the development of the product. Further deals have been signed for the commercialisation of Diabetica’s pre diabetes/diabetes biomarker, and its bioengineered and cultured human insulin-releasing pancreatic beta-cells. In addition, the company has a second platform technology based on cholecystokinin, a human peptide involved in saiety, from which it is planned to generate appetite suppressants.
Category: ICT
Nominees: Peter Andrekson and Mathias Westlund
Organisation: Picosolve – Chalmers University of Technology
Picosolve has developed high performance optical test and measurement equipment for use mainly by the optical communications industry. The company’s products are capable of accurately analysing optical waveforms, using a system of optical sampling. The technology provides substantially improved performance, cost, size, and ease of use compared to previous solutions.
To date Picosolve has shipped products worth over €1 million. The systems have less than 1 picosecond time resolution, with none of the so-called ‘ringing’ artefacts which appears in traditional sampling approaches that use fast photo diodes and fast electronic sampling. Along with high sensitivity, broad wavelength range and polarisation-independent operation, Picosolve’s products can be used to characterise high bit rate (40Gb/s and well beyond) optical communication signals and other very fast optical waveforms not necessarily related to telecom applications.
The hardware and software algorithms work together in a way that eliminates clock recovery and trigger circuits. This not only lowers cost and simplifies use but also makes the system fully bit-rate transparent. Capturing of optical waveforms is becoming increasingly important in the manufacture of high-end optical components and sub-systems such as lasers, modulators, and transponders as it helps to improve the actual yield and lower cost.
Nominees: Pasquale Pigazzini, Augusto Sarti, Stefano Tubaro
Organisation: Kee Square - Politecnico di Milano
Kee Square is developing security products that combine high-end image and audio analysis and processing techniques with classification techniques, for recognising people, identifying objects, detecting dangerous events or situations, and identifying threats. Its products, Morpheus-PC, Morphues-AC and Morpheus-ZS, are designed for logical/physical access-control, identity verification and white list/black list monitoring. Another product, Morpheus-ICAO, is a face analysis engine for real-time control of digital pictures/images for use with Electronic Identity Documents (EID). This software interactively guides the user to take just one passport picture that is guaranteed to be compliant with EID standards.
The face analysis engine is also incorporated in Morpheus-AI, a system for performing real time, automatic audience measurements, for measuring attention span, marketing effectiveness or assessing the impact made by an advertisement. The company suggests this data can then be used for the personalisation of adverts. Another product, KeeSonic, performs intelligent acoustic monitoring, processing sounds acquired by one or more microphones and, in real time, detect, classify and localise audio events – for example, explosions, screams, car crashes. This can be used to direct CCTV cameras and alert security staff.
The company has raised €1.5 million in venture funding and has sold over a thousand Morpheus-ICAO licences to the consortium implementing Spain’s Electronic Identity Card. It has also sold licenses to Dedem SpA, the Italian branch of the Photo-Me group, to ensure pictures taken in its booths are suitable for use as passport photographs.
[NB: This nominee was also selected for the Fast Start category.]
Nominee: Stefan Tuchschmid
Organisation: VirtaMed AG – ETH Zurich
Virtamed is developing simulation technology for training surgeons. The first product, HystSim, allows surgeons to hone their skills in performing hysteroscopy without any risk to patients. The VirtaMed HystSim system gives instructions and guidance in the performance of diagnostic and therapeutic hysteroscopy, using the same instruments as in live procedures, and provides objective feedback on performance.
Physicians can train and improve hysteroscopic skills in a safe and realistic environment. The system will allow surgical centres to provide standardised and efficient training in this and other procedures. Medical device manufacturers could promote existing and new products with customised simulators.
In June 2008, VirtaMed exhibited HystSim at an exhibition where more than 70 gynecologists took the opportunity to practice theirs skills on the simulator.
Category: Energy/Environment
Nominees: Dr. Colin Hills, Dr. Paula Carey, Prof. Stefan Simons
Organisation: Carbon8 Biogas Ltd – The University of Greenwich
The company has developed a technology for capturing carbon dioxide from waste gas flares on landfill sites. In the UK a third of landfills burn off methane. The technology involves capturing the exhaust gases and extracting the carbon dioxide by reacting the gases with other waste products, such as ash from waste incinerators. At a further third of UK landfill sites, methane is used for electricity generation, but the carbon dioxide produced is still emitted to the atmosphere. Carbon8 Biogas says its technology can be used to capture these gas streams also.
The treatment process not only captures carbon dioxide, but also reduces the hazardous nature of ash and other wastes and improves their geo-technical properties. The treated material is then suitable for use in a soil replacement medium within the landfill site or elsewhere, depending upon what contaminants it contains. In addition the technology allows the conversion of fine ash material into graded aggregates, suitable for use in construction.
The amount of carbon dioxide captured depends on the reactivity of the material processed, but as an example the company says 1,000 tonnes of incinerator ash can sequester around 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Carbon8 Biogas has an alliance with Kent County Council to apply the technology at one of its landfills, and is developing business partnerships with commercial partners. The company claims it is the first in the market with a viable and cost effective technology for carbon capture.
[NB: This nominee was also selected for the Fast Track category.]
Nominee: Prof. Adel Sharif
Organisation: Surrey Aquatechnology – Surrey University
The company is developing water purification and desalination technologies with the ability to extract pure water from seawater or wastewater, which contains particles and ions of a wide range of sizes and solubilities, by natural osmosis.
The desalination method reduces both energy consumption and the use of chemical additives, and allows less expensive materials to replace the corrosion-resistant alloys that are used in existing high-pressure reverse osmosis systems.
The scientific principle has been widely proven in a 1 cubic metre per hour pilot plant based at Surrey University, with results showing power consumption reductions in the order of 50%, with improved power/flow rates following the theoretical curves. Comparable results are now being obtained from industrial-scale installations based in the Mediterranean.
Nominees: Dr. Tiancun Xiao and Prof. Malcolm Green
Organisation: Oxford Catalysts – Oxford University
Oxford Catalysts designs and develops specialty catalysts for the generation of clean fuels from both conventional fossil fuels and certain renewable sources. The two platform technologies are based on 20 years of research at Oxford University’s Wolfson Catalysis Centre.
The first, a novel class of catalysts incorporating metal carbides, can match or exceed the benefits of more expensive catalysts in several important processes used in petrochemicals. The second involves a chemical reaction which can be used to generate steam instantaneously, starting from room temperature, using a cheap liquid fuel and the company’s catalysts. This has potential applications including cleaning and disinfecting, backup power and propulsion. Oxford Catalysts’ catalysts offer benefits including greater cost effectiveness, higher productivity, better selectivity, leading to higher quality output, increased resistance to contaminants, longer operational life. They are relevant to sectors ranging from Petro/chemicals to fuel cells, and biogas conversion and
The company was founded in 2001 with £124,500 from the University College Seed Fund and raised £15 million when it listed on the Alternative Investment Market in London in April 2006.
Category: The Fast Start
Awarded to individuals who have created a promising but as-yet unproven spin-out based on ideas developed at universities and public research institutes in Europe. The company must have commenced operations no earlier than 1 June 2007.
Nominees: Dr. Colin Hills, Dr. Paula Carey, Prof. Stefan Simons
Organisation: Carbon8 Biogas Ltd – The University of Greenwich
The company has developed a technology for capturing carbon dioxide from waste gas flares on landfill sites. In the UK a third of landfills burn off methane. The technology involves capturing the exhaust gases and extracting the carbon dioxide by reacting the gases with other waste products, such as ash from waste incinerators. At a further third of UK landfill sites, methane is used for electricity generation, but the carbon dioxide produced is still emitted to the atmosphere. Carbon8 Biogas says its technology can be used to capture these gas streams also.
The treatment process not only captures carbon dioxide, but also reduces the hazardous nature of ash and other wastes and improves their geo-technical properties. The treated material is then suitable for use in a soil replacement medium within the landfill site or elsewhere, depending upon what contaminants it contains. In addition the technology allows the conversion of fine ash material into graded aggregates, suitable for use in construction.
The amount of carbon dioxide captured depends on the reactivity of the material processed, but as an example the company says 1,000 tonnes of incinerator ash can sequester around 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Carbon8 Biogas has an alliance with Kent County Council to apply the technology at one of its landfills, and is developing business partnerships with commercial partners. The company claims it is the first in the market with a viable and cost effective technology for carbon capture.
[NB: This nominee was also selected for the Energy/Environment category.]
Nominees: Pasquale Pigazzini, Augusto Sarti, Stefano Tubaro
Organisation: Kee Square - Politecnico di Milano
Kee Square is developing security products that combine high-end image and audio analysis and processing techniques with classification techniques, for recognising people, identifying objects, detecting dangerous events or situations, and identifying threats. Its products, Morpheus-PC, Morphues-AC and Morpheus-ZS, are designed for logical/physical access-control, identity verification and white list/black list monitoring. Another product, Morpheus-ICAO, is a face analysis engine for real-time control of digital pictures/images for use with Electronic Identity Documents (EID). This software interactively guides the user to take just one passport picture that is guaranteed to be compliant with EID standards.
The face analysis engine is also incorporated in Morpheus-AI, a system for performing real time, automatic audience measurements, for measuring attention span, marketing effectiveness or assessing the impact made by an advertisement. The company suggests this data can then be used for the personalisation of adverts. Another product, KeeSonic, performs intelligent acoustic monitoring, processing sounds acquired by one or more microphones and, in real time, detect, classify and localise audio events – for example, explosions, screams, car crashes. This can be used to direct CCTV cameras and alert security staff.
The company has raised €1.5 million in venture funding and has sold over a thousand Morpheus-ICAO licences to the consortium implementing Spain’s Electronic Identity Card. It has also sold licenses to Dedem SpA, the Italian branch of the Photo-Me group, to ensure pictures taken in its booths are suitable for use as passport photographs.
[NB: This nominee was also selected for the ICT category.]
Nominees: Gandert Van Raemdonck, Hjalmar Van Raemdonck
Organisation: Ephicas BV – TU Delft
Ephicasis developing and producing aerodynamic devices for lorry trailers that reduce fuel consumption up to 15%, saving fuel costs and reducing pollution. The company’s technology applies high-tech expertise from the aerospace industry in aerodynamics and lightweight structures, to a relatively low tech industry
The company, founded in July 2008, has a preliminary agreement with logistics company TNT Express to equip 500 of its trailers with the Ephicas SideWings. Ephicas is also negotiating with several big trailer manufacturers to integrate the SideWings in their designs.
Several road tests have been performed by Ephicas in collaboration with TNT Express and Squarell Technology to verify the fuel reduction in fuel consumption in trailers equipped with the side wings. In the first test fuel reduction of 5% was measured when the truck had a tail wind and 15% with a head wind. In the second test, the TNT Express trailer drove the same route for 4 weeks in a row, the first two weeks without wings, the last two weeks with. Fuel consumption was cut by 6.4% in the second half of the trial. In a third road test assessing the impact of the wings at a cruising speed of 85km per hour the average fuel reduction was 7%.
Category: The Bridge Award
The Bridge Award is for an individual who has done the most to promote policies for entrepreneurship in university or public research institutions. The judges’ decisions will take into account the creativity shown in encouraging collaboration and entrepreneurship, and the success of those policies in economic, social and scientific terms.
Nominee: Dr. Tom Hockaday
Organisation: Isis Innovation – Oxford University
After joining Isis Innovation Ltd. in 2000, Tom Hockaday became Managing Director of the company, Oxford University’s technology transfer arm, in 2006. Since Hockaday joined the company Isis has signed over 200 licenses, reached 300 consulting agreements, and assisted in the formation of 52 spin-outs.
Before moving to Oxford, Hockaday was Managing Director of Bristol Innovations Ltd. and previously worked in the research contracting unit of University College London for four years. He was chair of UNICO, the UK’s technology transfer trade association in 2003 and served on the founding committee of Praxis, the UK’s national training programme for at technology transfer professionals, from 2002 to 2005.
Nominee: Eleanor Taylor
Organisation: Scottish Enterprise
Eleanor Taylor is head of Scotland’s Proof of Concept Programme, one of the largest commercialization initiatives in Europe. Taylor was invited to lead the development of the programme in 1999 and has since has taken it from a fund of £11 million to £79 million. It estimated that to date the fund has generated £128 million in gross added value to the economy in Scotland.
To maximise the opportunities for transferring technology, either through creating spin-offs or in licensing to existing companies, Taylor recognised project teams need more than just money. After securing further funding of £10 million from the European Regional Development Fund, she developed the Proof of Concept Programme to bring technology company creation experts and a project management structure to each PoCP project.
Taylor has built strong links with the angel investment communities and venture capitalists, who recognise that the programme involves due diligence. She also forged excellent working relationships with other organisations, including the National Health Service, the Scottish Government, business leaders and the Globalscot network, a grouping of international business men and women wishing to help Scotland prosper.
Nominee: Prof. Hans Wigzell
Organisation: Karolinska Institutet
Prof. Hans Wigzell pioneered and led the development of the innovation system at Karolinska Institutet , one of Europe’s largest and most research-intense medical universities. He began this work after becoming President in 1995, forming Karolinska Innovations AB, the university’s technology transfer company. He also recruited a business studies professor with a brief to study processes in medical innovation within the Centre for Medical Innovations on campus.
Later in the1990s Wigzell recruited a group of senior managers from AstraZeneca and Pharmacia to professionalise Karolinska Innovations. He established a €65 million venture fund with investments from large pension funds and the Wallenberg Foundation to fund development projects. In 2002, Wigzell created another investment fund, Karolinska Development, with private external money. The fund was set up with a pre-formed portfolio of over 40 seed-stage life science companies, several of which are now in well-advanced clinical trials. Wigzell has continued as chairman of Karolinska Development after retiring as rector in 2004, and has raised €100 million for the fund.
Wigzell is an advocate for entrepreneurship and innovation in the academic system, and encouraged the teaching and study of entrepreneurship at Karolinska. He has taken many initiatives to strengthen the interactions between the universities in the Stockholm and Uppsala region. He was also instrumental in getting politicians to support Stockholm Bioscience, a major project to boost R&D investment by both the private and public sector in a specially designated development zone of Stockholm.
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