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?

Governments and companies across the world are aiming to achieve net-zero emissions targets. These will only be achieved with technological innovations. Reports suggest that climate tech investments are soaring, but climate tech is a broad field. Selecting the most promising technologies with the highest impact is key. How can we focus efforts and concentrate our resources?

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.

This interim report outlines some of the lessons from the first half of the programme. For this, we draw on the weekly survey completed by each of the 12 participants after each session. We find that leadership, DEI and collaboration are key tenets of the programme that have already become key discussion points and objectives for the participants.

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.

This post reflects on the value and limitations of technology transfer metrics to measure social and economic impact. Considering that the core metrics are proxies for impact, the post offers recommendations on how to use them most fruitfully. Drawing on a series of positive US, UK and EU developments involving metrics, the post provides recommendations to be considered when collecting, analysing and interpreting metrics.

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.

As we start preparing for the next iteration of the series, ‘TenU Hosts Ecosystems’, we reflect on the inaugural event ‘TenU Hosts Economic Recovery’ held on 18th September. The series offers opportunities for US and UK policymakers, thought leaders and leading practitioners in research commercialisation to hold conversations on topical issues.

Ten world-leading US, UK, and EU universities today debate with leaders in national governments and funding bodies on how to harness the enormous potential of research and commercialisation for the urgent economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.