Cambridge names Chicago VC to head tech transfer unit

Cambridge Enterprise, the technology transfer unit of Cambridge University, said Willey will take office 1 August 2006. She has been a managing partner at ARCH Development Partners, Chicago, an early-stage venture fund, for five years.  Prior to this, she was a vice president for ARCH Development Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Chicago, which handles licensing and new company development. She is also past president of the professional association of US tech transfer managers, the Association of University Technology Managers. Willey succeeds acting director Anne Dobree.

Given the importance of Cambridge in the world technology market – university researchers have garnered 80 Nobel Prizes and the university has produced more technology spin-off companies than any other institution in Europe – the appointment is big news in the small but inter-networked world of technology transfer. Around Cambridge, more than 1,500 tech companies have been formed, with more than £40 billion in market value created since 1970. University officials say some 200 millionaires have been minted. But relatively little of that new, high-tech wealth has fed directly back into the university’s coffers, and the administration had been hunting internationally for months for a candidate to change that picture.

But a special challenge for Willey will be implementing the university’s new intellectual property policy.  On 12 December 2005 the university community voted – despite fierce opposition from a minority – to tighten the university’s grip on IP generated by staff and students.

Willey appears to be starting with a diplomatic approach to the problem. “There will be individuals that I would like to talk to directly and hear their concerns on the new policy,” she said in an interview. “Some individuals may not be satisfied with how we implement the policies, regardless of what we do. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a good number of people that have some concerns we need to listen to.”

Prior to the vote, a debate over the policy had waged for weeks, setting academics in the university at loggerheads. Supporters argued that Cambridge was merely getting in line with other institutions and providing a level playing field for all academics and students. Critics, on the other hand, said the policy could destroy the culture that created Silicon Fen, the region of high-tech businesses around the university. But the majority of Cambridge academics who voted disagreed, with 80 per cent (790 of the turnout) voting in favour of the new policy.

In the year ended 31 July 2005, 40 licences and options were granted from Cambridge Enterprise. Licensing income in the period was £2.7 million, while consulting income totaled £1.6 million.. At the same the tech-transfer unit assessed 127 invention disclosures and filed 41 new U.K. patent applications with three new spinouts being created. In comparison, Massachusetts Institute of Technology granted 94 licenses and options in 2005.

But Willey called the Cambridge performance so far “a wonderful foundation to work from.” She added:  “Once an innovation is made it usually takes 8 to 10 years before you see returns. So if we see 40 disclosures now and £2.7 million, it shows it starts to build some revenue stream and a nice portfolio of licensing agreements.” She said there may be an opportunity to add “a couple of key spots for growth” on the 20-person Cambridge Enterprise staff. She said she will continue to try to develop connections with venture capitalists, and is “very supportive” of making “sure there are additional resources for” the university’s seed-capital fund, which invests in spin-outs. The manager of the fund recently said it would need more cash later this year if it is to continue its pace of investment in local companies.

But Willey said she has yet to set concrete targets for the office. “We will certainly be setting some goals – like number of deals we might do and number of faculty we might want to reach,” she said. “We will look at the program from IP to spin-outs - talking to faculty and consulting with industry. The strategy is to create a good flow and to look at how we could provide the best service to faculty and students and to see how we do that and become sustainable over time.”

Commenting on the move to Cambridge, Willey said she’s looking forward to riding her bike again after “so much time in the car” in Chicago. She added that her teenage daughter, who will be a high school senior in August, will live with her in Cambridge for a year before beginning college in the U.S.  Her son, currently a junior in university in the U.S., is excited by “an excuse to travel.”

But the job, she recognizes, isn’t without headaches. “I enjoy the opportunity to work with bright creative people,” said Willey. But “it’s not without frustration because sometimes the personality traits of making someone very creative may make them very impatient with boring aspects of protection of IP or business transactions. It’s providing that link of business and science that I enjoy.”