What is Imperial Innovations?
Innovations has developed a proven business model that creates, builds and invests in pioneering technologies addressing global problems in healthcare, energy and engineering. It has built a portfolio of innovative companies with potential to generate significant returns for both investors and IP originators when technologies are commercialised in large multi-billion markets.
The Group facilitates and actively supports scientist entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of their ideas by leading the formation of new companies and providing facilities in the early stages, and providing significant investment, from seed to late-stage funding accelerating the transition from R&D to product readiness. Innovations helps its companies raise funds from other investors, typically by leading funding rounds that attract blue-chip VCs and other investors
Innovations helps recruit high-calibre industry figures and experienced entrepreneurs as executive management and board members to its companies - matching world class technology with world class management, and providing additional management expertise on subjects such as patent protection, business planning, routes to market, financial planning, communications etc and so enabling them to progress and scale rapidly.
Innovations has exclusive access to scientific and technological innovations from Imperial College London, one of the world’s leading research institutions
What is an Entrepreneurial CEO (eCEO)?
Entrepreneurial CEOs are experienced, first-rate executives with leadership qualities and excellent experience either in building and selling technology companies or in the creation of significant value for large corporations, who will successfully partner with Innovations to identify and build the next generation of companies. They combine technical and commercial competence and bring ideas of where they would like to form a new company. Imperial Innovations is looking to identify people looking to build their next business in the areas of healthcare, energy or engineering. We will provide access to technology, investment networks and our experienced New Ventures team to enable that business to be created.
Case Study: Garth Rapeport
Dr Garth Rapeport exemplifies the goals of the Entrepreneurial CEO programme. Formerly head of GSK’s CEDD for Respiratory and Inflammatory Diseases, Garth approached Innovations wanting to develop the next generation of respiratory drugs. Innovations’ knowledge of, and well-developed relationships with, Imperial academics allowed us to facilitate discussions between Garth and Professor Peter Barnes, the most highly cited respiratory researcher in the world, to identify the science basis for a new company. Garth created a new business, RespiVert, based around the discovery of inhalable small molecule drugs to treat COPD and other severe chronic inflammatory illnesses using proprietary insight developed by Professor Barnes’ research group.. Imperial Innovations backed Garth from the start, helping him build the business proposition and investing alongside Advent, Fidelity BioSciences and SV Life Sciences. The company, RespiVert, has raised £13m to date and is currently located in the Imperial College Incubator.
What is the Entrepreneur in Residence Programme (EIRp)?
The Entrepreneur in Residence programme is a successful part of Imperial Innovations’ efforts to ensure that world class science is matched by world class management. The programme is in its second year and has already met with some notable successes. In practice, an EiR will spend a period, typically two days a week over the space of three months, located at Imperial Innovations’ offices. They will appraise existing technologies in the portfolio and meet with Imperial academics with the intention of selecting a technology or family of technologies that they feel can address a lucrative market need and around which a suitable IP protection strategy can be developed. They will then work with the New Ventures team at Imperial Innovations to build a business proposition and obtain start-up funding, with Imperial Innovations typically co-investing. They will attract a skilled and experienced management team to advance the technology through the stages needed to successfully bring a product to market. Once seed-funding has been secured the company may move to the Incubator, where it can develop into a mature business. Imperial Innovations will continue to support the business through necessary funding rounds.
Case Study: Dr John Hamlin
John worked for more than 25 years at BP holding several senior international business and technology positions. Most of his career has been in the chemicals and polymers sector and he brings an experience of the main value chain operators, manufacturing technologies and the various markets for speciality and high volume plastics. John joined Imperial Innovations as Entrepreneur in Residence in 2008. Using his expertise, he worked with Innovations to develop a project based around developing a new form of biopolymer. John validated the commercial opportunity and built the business plan, leading Imperial Innovations to back the business, Plaxica, teaming him with a chairman in Philip Holbeche, most recently chair of Ceres Power. Innovations provided further support, working with John to secure TSB grant funding, taking part in negotiations to secure a development contract with an industrial partner and making the initial seed investment as well as leading a further investment round in October 2009 alongside NESTA, the Carbon Trust and Invesco Perpetual. Plaxica has so far raised approximately £1.7m and is located in the Imperial College Incubator
If this is the kind of challenge you relish, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Diana Crisp on d.crisp@imperial.ac.uk with details of your background.
22 January 2010
