Isis posts 18 per cent increase in revenues at £5.6M

Isis Innovation, Oxford University’s technology transfer company, has reported revenues of £5.6 million in the last financial year, up 18 per cent.  

Of this, £2.9 million has gone back to the university for distribution to its academics and departments. This is in addition to the value of the university’s shareholdings in spin-out companies created by Isis.

Isis assesses, patents and commercialises intellectual property, and received £3.5 million in license and royalty income, as well as setting up four new spin-out companies.

The technology transfer team struck 69 deals with commercial organisations. This included a license to the newly formed Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium Ltd, a joint venture between Oxford, Emergent Biosolutions, the Wellcome Trust and the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, to develop the most clinically advanced new vaccine for TB. The vaccine entered Phase IIb clinical trials in April 2009.

The spin-outs include Organox Ltd, a specialist in transplant organ preservation and repair, and Intelligent Sustainable Energy Ltd, which is developing technologies that help individuals reduce and manage their energy consumption.

Another arm of the company, Oxford University Consulting, saw a fifty per cent rise in the number of consulting contracts it negotiated to access to Oxford’s academic expertise.

A third arm, Isis Enterprise, provided technology transfer training, market research and innovation management advice to UK companies and to organisations in Croatia, Austria, Brazil, and South Africa, and established a presence in Singapore.

Overall, Isis filed 64 new patent applications, bringing to 400 the number of patent families it manages.