Southampton is one of the UK's leading entrepreneurial universities with a strong enterprise agenda and excellent relationships with business and industry. Collaborative projects with industrial partners account for 40 per cent of our research income, ranging from large multinationals to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). We are ranked the top UK university, both in income and numbers, for working with SMEs and believe that enterprise should provide added value complementary to the highest quality of research and teaching undertaken.
These are exciting times within Medicine and Medicine, Health and Life Sciences (MHLS) within the University, with a number of groups and academics delivering innovative science offering intellectual property, commercial potential and a knowledge base that provides opportunities for consultancy, teaching and training. Enterprise encompasses education, research and teaching, and cuts across the University's spectrum of activities.
Research can be expensive and we help to fund our research by a balanced portfolio of external income. We collaborate closely with industry and this allows us to maintain a vigorous enterprise agenda, while the University provides dedicated support from its Research and Innovation Services department and through entrepreneur in Residence Nick Camp, from Eli Lilly, enhancing links with the pharmaceutical industry.
Our strong record of creating spin-out companies and our success in commercialising academic research was recognised in a recent Library House Report, placing Southampton third in the world, behind Stanford University in the USA and Cambridge in the UK.
Research and Innovation Services supports enterprise activity across the University and the exchange of knowledge between the University and business for the benefit of the UK economy and society. Support is provided through research contract management, consultancy development, intellectual property protection, commercialising research through the creation of start-up companies and licensing, and the facilitation of a portfolio of modes of collaboration, including knowledge transfer partnerships, engineering doctorates and industry-driven master's courses.
Industry Advisory Boards, often comprising board-level personnel from multinational companies and SMEs facilitate these activities with industry. These experienced individuals inform and shape these collaborations to ensure they meet the needs of the University and industry.
The University has developed a unique and highly-successful entrepreneurs' society, Fish on Toast. The society has a programme of speakers and workshops designed to encourage enterprise at the University, and can provide "fish food" funding to help get innovative ideas off the ground. In addition, we provide one-on-one advice via business surgeries, as well as free residential courses, business simulation workshops, training days and competitions. We take part in SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise), in which students design and implement projects that create economic opportunities for others. SIFE is dedicated to nurturing the entrepreneurial skills of students in a way that is both effective in developing their future careers and meaningful to the community.
The SETsquared Partnership is a collaboration of the Universities of Southampton, Bath, Bristol and Surrey, and represents the largest single source for academic knowledge transfer in the UK, with a collective research base of more than 6,500 researchers. The partnership generates quality spin-outs from research discoveries; prepares students and staff with business skills; links established companies with university experts and facilities; facilitates international research collaborations; and supports science and technology entrepreneurs with business mentoring, affordable office space and routes to funding
For more information please contact:
MHLS contact:
Sue Sundstrom,
Business Manager
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 3895
sue.sundstrom@cei.soton.ac.uk
Faculty of Medicine contact:
Professor Richard OC Oreffo
Associate Dean, International and Enterprise
Tel: +44 (0)23 8079 8502
Email:
roco@soton.ac.uk