YABA Pilots Appraisal Service For Universities
A new service to appraise commercial opportunities arising from university research in the region is being trialled by the Yorkshire Association of Business Angels (YABA).
The aim of the new Commercial Evaluation Service is to co-ordinate discussions about specific new technologies, products and services between business angels – acting as business experts – the academics and the University's commercialisation managers.
The initiative will assist university technology transfer offices in making decisions about the commercial potential of new business ideas and strengthen the links between universities and the region's angel investors.
Says Barbara Greaves, YABA Manager: "We hope to show that this is an ideal partnership. The region's universities have a steady flow of potential business opportunities, and our angel members have a wide range of sector experience and knowledge which they can apply in the assessment that process. They can can both advise on the market opportunities, help in defining the goals, and give guidance on the next steps required to achieve a commercial outcome, which may include seeking private investment. for potential new technologies and products, and can also advise on what future development work might be needed to improve a new product's investment prospects.
"YABA continues to attract new angel investor members each week and this new service could create further interest from investors who would like to get involved in research commercialiszation opportunities generated by Yorkshire's universities," she added.
The first Assessment Forum was held on 25 October at Old Broadcasting House in Leeds at which the panel of four business angels panel discussed and assessed digital sector business opportunities from the University of Hull and Leeds Metropolitan University.
Attending the event was Hilary Hamer, Industry Liaison Manager of an innovative research project called HONEI at the University of Hull. The HONEI project, works in health, diet and obesity and has generated a digital technology to track food consumption in controlled environments such as hospitals, care homes and prisons. As hospital food is not currently monitored, a tool to track consumption trends would be useful for both ensuring patient care and waste monitoring.
Both Hilary and co-inventor Matthew Taylor believe that the evaluation service could become a very popular offer from YABA.
Hilary said: "It's highly unusual for researchers with a fledgling business proposition to have the opportunity to discuss ways forward with exactly the right industry experts. We all want to know 'is there really a commercial application here? Can it be profitable?' and for us, this event managed to condense what would have taken a protracted period of investigation and market research into a morning's discussion. This is hugely important as this sector moves quickly and if we're to capitalise on our research outcomes then we need to make some decisions in a short timeframe.
"We thought we had something unique with this project and it's wonderful to hear industry experts agree. I left with my thoughts crystallised and a renewed sense of purpose about what I need to do next to take this project forward," she added.
A second event is already in planning for the end of November hosted at the University of Huddersfield.
Says Barry Timmins, the University's head of Business Development & IP Commercialisation:
"Universities generate prolific numbers of innovative business ideas and it can be difficult to fully investigate the commercial potential of them all. The evaluation service helps to addresses this challenge, as it will deliver early market feedback from genuine sector experts with senior management experience. In addition, as angel investors, they may wish to become involved in the business venture at some stage, so there are potential investment opportunities for them too. It'll be great to meet and build relationships with sector experts in the region too - this is something that I can see becoming a very valuable aspect of YABA's service."
