ACES profile: Proving the concept

When Eleanor Taylor returned to full-time work in October 1999, she took on the task of setting up Scottish Enterprise’s Proof of Concept Programme. She was already working at the Scottish agency and noticed there was government money available for technology transfer and they needed someone to run the programme.

“It was very exciting,” she said, recalling how she was attracted by the opportunity to shape developments. “It took me back to my investment skills.” Initially it was just her and one part-timer. The team expanded as Taylor set about turning an £11 million fund into the £79 million Proof of Concept funding and support programme that it is today.

“Scotland is very good at being very inventive,” said Taylor, who has worked for Scottish Enterprise and its predecessor the Scottish Development Agency for more than 20 years. “We’re not so good at developing long-term sustainable companies.” That is exactly the programme’s objective: creating and building high-growth sustainable companies in Scotland.

In 1999 the research was excellent, but there was a funding gap preventing commercialisation, Taylor explains. This has improved considerably since then and the challenge now is to get commercial outcomes “grounded in the Scottish economic base,” she said.

The programme uses Scottish connections, and in particular the Globalscot network, as much as possible. Several Globalscots, business leaders across the world who are either Scots or who have links with Scotland, have cooperated with the Proof of Concept Programme as advisers and mentors.

World leader

The programme is considered by many as a world leader in its field. Lord Sainsbury cited it in his 2007 review of UK science and innovation policies as “one of the most successful examples” of a proof of concept funding and support scheme.

Leon Sandler, executive director at MIT’s technological innovation centre, has described Taylor as “a trailblazer in the world of technology commercialization.” “Her accomplishments with the Scottish Enterprise program have created a model for others institutions to emulate,” according to Sandler.

Taylor, a qualified chartered accountant who started work as an investment analyst and business advisor, says one invaluable asset in her current job is being a mother.

“There are many transferable skills from being a mum that can be used in a work context,” said Taylor, who switched to part-time work for a decade to bring up her two children. She cites as examples performing a balancing act, developing and nurturing.

One project where those skills proved a success was MTEM, which was spun out of the University of Edinburgh in 2004 and three years later sold to Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services ASA for $275 million.

MTEM developed a new method to detect oil and gas reserves without drilling. When the idea first landed on Taylor’s desk, it was rejected because it looked so credible it didn’t seem to need Proof Of Concept funding. A year later the project turned up again as no money had been found. Taylor’s programme put in £200,000 and from there £147 million of private sector funding went into the company – and it developed into the UK’s biggest spinout.

“It’s great to be fulfilling others’ dreams. It’s a bit like Jim’ll Fix It,” she said, referring to a British television show where the host used to grant the wishes of viewers who wrote in.

Different groups, different targets

The work isn’t without its difficulties. “Different groups have different targets and this can often create conflict,” Taylor said. “A tech transfer office for example wants to get the maximum grant in income, but I only want money going into projects with excellent commercial potential.” The challenge is to overcome the differences and develop research concepts into successful commercial products or services.

The nature of Taylor’s work means meeting a lot of people. Networking and communicating are key. Luckily Taylor thrives off this. “I love working with people who are passionate about making a difference,” she said.

In fact, Taylor said one of the pluses of being a winner of the Academic Enterprise Awards Europe 2008’s Bridge Award is how it introduced her to new people in Europe who can provide good contacts and networks for Proof of Concept Programme projects.

She is involved with many networks and associations in her personal life, such as chairing the finance group at the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, and her professional life.

In December 2005 Taylor was elected the first corporate affiliate committee member of Unico, the UK’s tech transfer network. She also works with the US-based Association of University Technology Managers, or AUTM as it better known, chairing its Innovation Based Economic Development Group.

Speaking at conferences is a part of the job that allows her to temporarily trade in her office on the banks of Glasgow’s River Clyde for overseas destinations. This year she is chairing a session on “What the US can learn from us” at AUTM’s Orlando conference and speaking at the annual conference of the Association of European Science & Technology Transfer Professionals, or ASTP, in Ghent.

Taylor wants her programme to become “a nucleus for world-beating companies based in Scotland”. To help her achieve that, while not neglecting her own personal goals, she will be referring to Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which she first read a decade ago. She describes the book as an ongoing source of inspiration, helping her to integrate all aspects of her life and achieve her objectives.