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The University of Southampton
Business

Our spin-outs

We provide an ecosystem of support for new start-ups, ensuring our research can be taken out of the lab and into the real world, where it becomes accessible to industry.

We are home to a variety of programmes and expertise that ensure our students and academics are supported in taking their ideas and inventions to market.

Research and Innovation Services (RIS) provides support for IP management and commercialisation, and supports researchers spinning out technologies and bringing new products to market. RIS also provides dedicated support to our research community, assisting and facilitating collaborations, industrial interactions and knowledge transfer.

Our successes

Since 2000, the University of Southampton and its academic teams have formed 77 new ventures. More than 40 of these are formal University spin-outs taking a licence to intellectual property, and the University has taken an equity position in 35. At any one time, the University is working with over 1,000 external organisations and over 40 per cent of our research projects involve one or more business partners.

The University of Southampton Science Park – home to more than 100 businesses – is one of the largest science parks and innovation centres in the UK. It is home to the Catalyst programme, which fast-tracks innovation-led businesses via six months of mentoring and workshops with world-class business mentors. Since it was established nine years ago, this programme has accelerated progress for 73 companies, secured over £28 million in early-stage funding for participant companies and helped create more than 160 jobs. Eighty per cent of these businesses were still trading after five years (compared to the national average of 40 per cent).

The multiple programmes offered by the SETsquared Partnership – of which we are a founding partner – provide entrepreneurial support to our students and academics. SETsquared is an enterprise partnership between six UK universities (Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey). Since its launch in 2002, it has supported more than 5,000 entrepreneurs helping them raise £2.72 billion investment. Additionally, SETsquared's ICURe programme, now funded by Innovate UK, originated at Southampton and we continue to be one of the three delivery partners.

Future Worlds, our on-campus start-up accelerator, nurtures aspiring entrepreneurs to move technologies to commercialisation. It has supported more than 150 projects and launched more than 50 student and staff start-ups. These have raised more than £7 million equity investment at a valuation of more than £40 million, and they employ over 100 people.

Our spin-outs include:

AccelerCom

AccelerCom

AccelerComm offers low latency, high throughput communications IP to equipment manufacturers – both on network and 'device' side.

Aquark Technologies

Aquark Technologies

Making quantum technology applications accessible through portability and miniaturisation solutions is at the heart of Aquark Technologies.

Arkivum

Arkivum

Arkivum's digital archiving technology delivers long-term preservation and safeguarding to some of the world's most prestigious and important data.

Audioscenic

Audioscenic

Audioscenic creates innovative 3D audio solutions for entertainment and gaming equipment vendors.

Covesion

Covesion

Covesion manufactures non-linear crystals, with applications in research, laser systems and equipment manufacturing.

Curve Therapeutics

Curve Therapeutics

Curve Therapeutics has developed an innovative screening platform that is transforming the discovery of first-in-class therapeutics.

Highfield Diagnostics

Highfield Diagnostics

Highfield Diagnostics is revolutionising point-of-care diagnostics via a patterned paper substrate that can diagnose multiple conditions in a single, rapid, portable test.

Ilika

Ilika

Ilika was formed to introduce high throughput combinatorial chemistry techniques to other chemical and materials industries.

Lumenisity

Lumenisity

Lumenisity specialises in commercialising breakthroughs in the development of hollowcore optical fibre.

Radii Devices

Radii Devices

Radii Devices applies state-of-the-art biomechanical modelling to give clinicians a real-time prediction of fit during the design of prosthetic limbs.

Renovos

Renovos

Developing a nanoclay gel technology platform, Renovite, for medical applications to address the unmet need for long-term disease regeneration.

Symetrica

Symetrica

Symetrica specialises in the detection and identification of radioactive material for security applications.

Synairgen

Synairgen

Focused primarily on COVID-19, severe asthma and COPD, Synairgen discovers and develops novel therapies for respiratory disease.

TopMD

TopMD

TopMD uses global gene networks as coordinates for measuring the shape of global gene expression.

https://versobiosense.com

Verso Biosense

Developing a small, implantable, battery-free sensor to help understand and improve fertility.

Spin-out support

Our Research and Innovation Services team is dedicated to supporting our researchers and businesses make the most of the ground-breaking research taking place at the University.

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