Spin-off centre on to a winner

The University of Nottingham launched its technology transfer unit last week in response to rising commercial demands that will see the formation of 15 new businesses this year.

Nottingham Technology Ventures (NTV) was opened by vice-chancellor Sir Colin Campbell at the East Midlands Conference Centre, where 100 delegates discussed commercial ideas generated by students and staff.

The centre will provide the university with a dedicated intellectual property management support and commercialisation service while offering business a single access point to licensing, joint venture opportunities and spin-off company developments.

Kathryn Burchell, intellectual property services manager, said that in the past three years the university had experienced a significant increase in the volume of intellectual property commercialisation through licensing, joint ventures and spin-offs.

"In addition to its primary function of commercialising intellectual property resources, NTV will support IP activities to include: education and awareness raising, advisory and legal support, management of the patent portfolio, technology marketing and widespread adoption of best practice in IP management," she said.

• A snapshot of start-up company success rates has been published by the Oxford Trust. The report found that businesses using innovation centres had significantly higher survival rates than the UK average - 90 per cent since the census began in 2000, compared with the UK average of 33 per cent over five years.