An exciting panel of speakers from leading US and UK venture capital firms and technology transfer offices came together in London to discuss the origins, merits and impact of international initiatives to support university-investor negotiations leading to investments in spin-outs. Listen to the podcast, which was brought to you by Global University Ventures, as the contributors of the US-BOLT and the USIT Guide discuss motivation, challenges, and how speed is more important than perfection.

Hannah Burnau, the first TenU-MIT TLO Intern, writes about her trip to MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which was sponsored by TenU. The trip included meeting with the team of MIT’s Technology Licensing Office (MIT TLO), as well as with Ananay Aguilar, Head of TenU, exploring the campus and visiting the MIT Museum. A science graduate and JD candidate, Hannah shares her reflections and adds: “I hope to work in the technology transfer and patent field.”

Paul Van Dun, General Manager of KU Leuven Research & Development (LRD), will be the new president of TenU until the end of 2023. Paul takes over from Anne Lane, CEO of UCL’s technology transfer company UCLB.

Watch the videos from the launch event of the USIT Guide here. The agenda for the launch event included a keynote from George Freeman MP, Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and two panel sessions discussing two topical questions: 1. Can the relationship between VCs and universities be an international differentiator? 2. What will it take to deliver the UK's Science Superpower agenda?

Across the globe, recruitment and retention has been a hot topic, with staff being a scarce resource. As part of TenU’s efforts to exchange insight on operational issues, UCL Business hosted the first TenU Operational Symposium (TenU OS) on the recruitment and retention challenges faced by TenU members.

Funded by Research England, the USIT Guide is the result of a first-of-its-kind collaboration of six university technology transfer offices and seven leading Venture Capital Firms. It consolidates the many hard lessons learnt from years of negotiating major and complex spin-out deals, and makes these lessons available for all.

TenU, the collaboration of leading UK, US and mainland European technology transfer organisations, has appointed Andrew Wilkinson, CEO of the University of Manchester Innovation Factory, as its new president. Andrew takes over the role from Anne Lane, CEO of UCL’s technology transfer company UCLB.

As universities welcome their students for the new academic year, TenU looks back at last year’s successes to reflect on the future.

Last year, a European report on venture capital funding announced that women-founded start-ups outperformed men-founded ones by 96%, nearly twice the capital productivity. Yet of all companies that received investment, only 1% were of all-women-founded companies, while 94% were of all-male-founded teams. Could the low prevalence of women VC partners—7%—be at the root of this strong bias? Why is that so and how can we change that? What are people doing already that we can learn from?

In May, we had the pleasure to reunite all of the TenU members in London. We used the time to meet George Freeman, the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation; discuss successes and challenges with government officials, and share effective practices with new and old friends and colleagues. The following set of three podcasts offers insight into some of the discussions had, with a focus on three areas that will be central during the next five-year phase.

Leading universities around the world are increasingly supporting the creation of social ventures, and funders are announcing new funding schemes to build the capacity of knowledge exchange professionals to identify and support these opportunities. TenU convened an international expert panel to find out why social innovation was a good bet, how best to support and leverage it, and how to measure the resulting impact.

On our fourth event, TenU Hosts Regional Opportunities, a panel of experts debated emerging trends in regional entrepreneurial ecosystem development. In the light of growing interest by US and UK governments in investing in and growing regional innovation hubs, TenU convened this event to find out about the wealth of opportunities in the regions, the initiatives underway to develop regional ecosystems further and the incentives needed to increase their potential.

How much equity should a university receive from spin-outs? This quick start guide illustrates the complexity inherent in allocating equity in an easy and comprehensible way and offers up-to-date references for those wanting to delve a bit deeper into these questions.

The Programme will offer a diverse cohort of technology transfer professionals a unique opportunity for international exchange.

On our third event, TenU Hosts International Investment, a panel of experts debated emerging trends in international investment. In the context of the rapid digitisation of international communication brought about by the pandemic, TenU convened this event to find out about the pros and cons of global cooperation in early-stage technology investment.

If you would like to brush up on your IP skills or are new to IP and would like to hear about the latest developments in IP, look no further. A distinguished team at Columbia Technology Ventures (CTV), one of our members, has offered this course entirely for free.

On our second event, TenU Hosts Ecosystems, a panel of experts discussed targeted initiatives and policies for the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The event compared New York’s ecosystem development after the 2008 financial collapse and an emerging project approach in London, building on the inaugural TenU Hosts event discussing how technology transfer might aid in the economic recovery.