ResearchPod
ResearchPod
The business of spinout success
The government of Malaysia has set a target of making Malaysia a regional hub for startups by 2025. As of 2022, there were approximately 3,000 active startups in Malaysia, a stark increase from around 300 in 2013. However, whilst 30% of Malaysian startups have displayed consistent growth and profitability, about 1,800 startups struggle, with a 60% failure rate, especially within the first three years. The failure is majorly attributed to lack of market need affecting 42% or approximately 756 startups. How can universities provide a more robust route to market and accelerate a culture of research incubation and support for entrepreneurs?
Featuring Ts. Mohd Roydean Osman (Taylors University) and Simon Bond (University of Bristol)
00:00:09 Will Mountford
The Government of Malaysia has set a target of making Malaysia a regional hub for startups by 2025. As of 2022, there are approximately 3000 active startups in Malaysia.
00:00:20 Will Mountford
A stark increase from around 300 in 2013. However, whilst 30% of Malaysian startups have displayed consistent growth and profitability around 1800, startups struggle with a 60% failure rate, especially within the first three years. The failure is majorly attributed to a lack of market need affecting 42 percent or.
00:00:40 Will Mountford
Approximately 756 startups.
00:00:43 Will Mountford
How can universities provide a more robust route to market and accelerate a culture of research, incubation and support for entrepreneurs?
00:00:52 Will Mountford
I'm your host, Will Moutford and joining me from Taylors University is their vice President of Innovation and Commercialization, Roydean Osman, and from Bristol Innovations, their director Simon Bond.
00:01:05 Will Mountford
Simon, Roydean. Hello to both of you.
00:01:07 Simon Bond
Hey, good morning.
00:01:08 Roydean Osman
Good morning.
00:01:09 Will Mountford
By way of introduction, if you could tell me a bit about who you are, where you are and what you do. Roydean, perhaps you first?
00:01:16 Roydean Osman
All right, very good morning to the team at the University of Bristol and much appreciation to to everyone there for making this thing happen. My name is Roydean Osman and I'm the vice President of innovation and commercialization here at Taylor University, Malaysia. So here in a nutshell, my responsibility is to to spur innovation within.
00:01:37 Roydean Osman
The university ecosystem and also to take care of partnerships and collab.
00:01:42 Roydean Osman
Action between the academia and the industry to push our research here in the university, out there into the industry for commercialization.
00:01:51 Will Mountford
And we'll pick up on some of those in specific details in just a second. But Simon, the same questions for you.
00:01:57 Simon Bond
Lovely. Good to meet you, will. And Roydean, super to meet you. And what an interesting role you have. I'm the director of Bristol Innovations. As Will said, it's.
00:02:06 Simon Bond
A new organisation at the University of Bristol, relatively new formed in 2022, and it's the catalyst for innovation for the the university. So it brings together many of the innovation activities that the university has been building over the last 10-15 years, but into a single platform, a single organization.
00:02:27 Simon Bond
Those.
00:02:27 Simon Bond
Easy for organizations, investors, businesses, governments that invest in business as well to find the capabilities of the university and also a two way St. So it makes it easier for academics, students, staff to engage in commercialization and it's a big topic for all of the universities, all the leading universities around the world.
00:02:48 Simon Bond
Malaysia in the UK and Europe, of course.
00:02:50 Will Mountford
And with innovation and commercialization being kind of core themes to our conversation today and also keywords within your job titles, if I could ask for the the tailor university experience to start with in terms of the approach to commercializing your research, how has that been working within writing your experience and the facilities that you have?
00:03:11 Will Mountford
Control over and would you say that's representative of the Malaysian academic experience as?
00:03:16
Oh.
00:03:16 Roydean Osman
Taylor universities approach to commercialization and spin outs and startup is actually very, very new. For your information, this transfer technology office, the knowledge transfer and commercialization, it's still considered a new kid on the block. As far as academia and technology transfer is and it was established in 2017 and I.
00:03:36 Roydean Osman
Have taken over from some of my predecessor, so at at the moment we are building the ecosystem tightening, now putting in the right policy together so that there will be an open innovation experience inside the university where especially our staff.
00:03:52 Roydean Osman
Because most of our lecturers, our scientists, our researchers, are driven by academic meaning that, you know, lectures and and when we're talking about research, applied research is something new to them because when they were on board, it was more on academic driven. So we are trying to make a perspective.
00:04:12 Roydean Osman
Change here in Taylor University so.
00:04:14 Roydean Osman
That the staff not only will focus on academic excellence, but also moving towards research, applied research and with that we we have many, many programs that we are, you know, lining it up in 2024 and 2025 onwards. So that the the capacity will be built within the university infrastructures and also the.
00:04:35 Roydean Osman
The experience in Taylor University.
00:04:38 Will Mountford
Simon, from where you sit within Bristol University but also with touch points across a lot of the Southwest and academic institutions there, how would you say the regional approach that we have to commercialization transfer of technology from within universities to outside is working. Do you see that there are any standout successes that you think would highlight?
00:04:59 Will Mountford
How interaction between industry and academia can really excel and succeed?
00:05:05 Simon Bond
And it's so interesting. Reflecting on your words reading, and I find myself thinking that the IT reflects the different places that our respective national economies are at. The Bristol has a, I would say, a mature, entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem, but we we have different problems.
00:05:25 Simon Bond
Yourself. You have and and you know in Bristol's success in this era, it does reflect a national move that takes back, Oh my goodness me, it's just over 20 years around the year 2000.
00:05:38 Simon Bond
Universities were first encouraged by the government of the time to engage in this third thing, so it's research, teaching and then innovation. Entrepreneurship and Bristol has always been at the the the leading edge of that. So today, as a result of two decades of investment in entrepreneurship and innovation, we have.
00:05:58 Simon Bond
An established tech transfer office it we have a portfolio of 75 spin out companies that have quite a large enterprise value. As you can imagine well over a billion UK pounds.
00:06:10 Simon Bond
We have incubators for students in innovation programs for students, for at every level, undergraduate, postgraduate and so forth, and we have also on the demand side, we we have built Centers for translational research in key areas, for example like composite technology.
00:06:31 Simon Bond
We have incubators that bring research intensive startups close to the university Prior to joining the University of Bristol, Iran, a group called set squared which.
00:06:42 Simon Bond
Is, I think, still the the UK's number one university business incubator #3 in Europe and brings in businesses out in the world that want to work more closely with the university. This is a a mature system, but our our problems are different, so we we we see the shift.
00:07:02 Simon Bond
Global economic activity and so we have to be important locally, we have to also be important internationally, so international.
00:07:10 Simon Bond
Networks for talent for customers and investors are important, and that work needs to be done. We see the regional impact is important to the government. The national impact of universities, and so we we're being challenged by our government not only to be great as an institution, but also to be great for our country and this is.
00:07:30 Simon Bond
The challenge that the University of Bristol is ready to step up to and it is part of the reason behind the creation of Bristol innovation so.
00:07:37 Simon Bond
We need to be good in our institution.
00:07:40 Simon Bond
Culture. We need to be good in our region and our city working with the entrepreneurial community. We need to be good for our country and on top of all of that, we need to build strong focus but strong international networks because our innovation business, like your innovation business is is not a local sport. This is a global.
00:08:01 Simon Bond
Activity.
00:08:02 Simon Bond
And so these are these are serious challenges that we we're ready to step up to. But I, you know, I don't mind admitting this is this is a A.
00:08:09 Simon Bond
Serious piece of work that we need to do.
00:08:18 Will Mountford
The Malaysian Government has set this all out to be a regional hub for startups within kind of the Malaysian maybe kind of the local environment around Malaysia of kind of how many other nations are sending expertise in and bringing graduates out to nearby countries? How do you see that you can really?
00:08:37 Will Mountford
Bridge technology and industry together in a way that is not just useful, but also then succeeds to be profit.
00:08:44 Roydean Osman
If you're talking about just the the Malaysia scenario, I mean there is limitation in terms of economy of scale. So normally when you're talking about innovation, we must we must foresee the global innovation platform. So in, in this aspect catching on the the Malaysian Government.
00:09:05 Roydean Osman
Initiatives back in 9th August 2022, the Ministry of Science and Technology and Innovation has launched 5 National Technology Road map.
00:09:15 Roydean Osman
That touches, you know, some pain points that the global industry requires in terms of expertise. And these are, you know, electrical and electronics sectors, national blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, advanced material technology and also the robotics, you know, technology in in their road map.
00:09:34 Roydean Osman
So they have crafted a road map and a pathway for for the Malaysian university to focus on in terms of sector development or domain developments.
00:09:46 Roydean Osman
For this, a lot of the Malaysian university are very positive about it and they want to ride on this opportunity. But The thing is, expertise right, expertise in these areas are not just in Malaysia, it must be coming from all over the world. So the detraction here as far as the Malaysian Government is concerned, maybe.
00:10:06 Roydean Osman
You know, they're offerings like Malaysia, my second home for the global expertise to come here and contribute into our local universities. For example, Taylor University.
00:10:18 Roydean Osman
Myself, our Vice Chancellor is from United Kingdom professor very win. So he is our Vice president now and prior to this our Vice Chancellor was also from UK. So you see we have you know our Malaysia UK relationship has been very strong from the old days and I think these are the important relationships when you're talking about.
00:10:40 Roydean Osman
Or US universities. You know, we have we have to be open about it and, you know, sharing a lot of opportunities, a lot of technology.
00:10:48 Roydean Osman
Cultures so that we can develop the world for the betterment and I think our strategy, the, the Malaysian Government strategy is.
00:10:58 Roydean Osman
To to not just limit this to only Malaysians, but we when we build the technology or when we work together, it has to be focused on the global view or even the regional view. That's why we're we're quite open to any kind of collaborations, you know, especially from Taylor University because.
00:11:18 Roydean Osman
Our university is quite a young universities and compared to University of Bristol and you know with with the experience that University of Bristol has in terms of technology transfers and commercialization, I think this is something that we can learn from and leverage in terms of the experience and and on the.
00:11:35 Roydean Osman
Knowledge.
00:11:36 Simon Bond
Well, you know, reading compared to some of the really old British universities, the University of Bristol is still quite, quite young, you know.
00:11:44
We're.
00:11:44 Simon Bond
We're just a a fit of the age, so we we still feel a lot of youthful vigour. There's so much more.
00:11:50 Simon Bond
To be done.
00:11:51 Simon Bond
I really appreciate your your words and I completely agree with what you're saying.
00:11:55 Will Mountford
To pick up on the mention of the porous university there talked about national approaches, regional approaches. But to bring things down to the the campus approach, how can the universities build that openness to collaboration within the couple of streets around them? The couple of towns around them, and maybe even just kind of next door?
00:12:15 Will Mountford
People in the different departments starting to come together.
00:12:19 Simon Bond
It's a tough.
00:12:20 Simon Bond
Challenge and I know that we have looked at that in.
00:12:25 Simon Bond
In a number of ways, and if it was as simple as laying out the furniture or the corridors in a certain way, Oh my goodness me, we could have solved that a long time ago. And it is. That stuff is really important. Don't get me wrong, but this is it's about culture change as well, so.
00:12:45 Simon Bond
And we we we have a, we have a a really great emerging plan. I'm gonna tell you about that in a in in a second.
00:12:51
So.
00:12:51 Simon Bond
The underlying issue in my experience is that as universities we we're super specialists, you know, that's that's what we we are. And so we're very good at telling people what we're good.
00:13:02 Simon Bond
At.
00:13:03 Simon Bond
However, what the world wants to know is what we're good for. Don't tell me what you do. Tell me what you can do for me. So this is the.
00:13:11 Simon Bond
Underlying kind of ethos, the the philosophy that drives this, our approach to a, to a, to a porous university.
00:13:18 Simon Bond
We're valued for our specialization, but we need to be able to communicate it in a way that the users of that specialization can understand. So setting up Rd. maps in key technologies as the as the Malaysian government has done, I think is is very, very wise, absolutely right to the British Government has done similar. We have priority.
00:13:39 Simon Bond
Critical technologies, semiconductors, telecoms, engineering, biology, quantum you know, of course, the the these sorts of.
00:13:47 Simon Bond
And we also have missions. So what are they for? Why? Why is quantum important? Well, the government missions are to kick start the economy, to remove the barriers for opportunities for people, normal people, non academic people, to enhance national security, not just.
00:14:07 Simon Bond
At an international border level, but you know, so you feel safe in your street, better healthcare address, climate change through net zero. So even getting the the an understanding of why are we super specialists what is our research for why is it useful to.
00:14:25 Simon Bond
People who live down my street, who live.
00:14:27 Simon Bond
My city who?
00:14:29 Simon Bond
Are citizens of my country are citizens of the world? That is a big culturally and we've been investing very heavily in that communication, storytelling skills for academics is.
00:14:39 Simon Bond
A really odd.
00:14:40 Simon Bond
Thing it sounds to invest in but absolutely critical to allow them to express what they do.
00:14:45 Simon Bond
For other people, we also create environments. We've got areas of innovation hubs, incubators, classes, programs that allow large number of academics and students.
00:14:59 Simon Bond
To learn and participate in entrepreneurial activities, but in quite a low risk environment, they may never become an entrepreneur or business founder, but we we hope that the what we teach there entrepreneurial ways. Insights will inform whatever they they choose to do with their career, they they may become professors in our university.
00:15:20 Simon Bond
Lecturers. But if they're doing that with a mind set of an end.
00:15:24 Simon Bond
Or another. What does my customer? What do my the people I'm teaching the people I'm researching for? What do they want that's going to be adding value? So this is the this is the the culture change. What we're going to do about it next though rodeo's very exciting. We're building a new campus. You know, lots of universities build new campuses in different places around the world. We're building another one in Bristol.
00:15:44 Simon Bond
Right down by the town centre by the station, which is a is a big hub station, connects into London in under an hour and a half, which is fast for the UK going right past Heathrow International Airport, 1 of the biggest global airport.
00:16:01 Simon Bond
And this is going to be redesignated, it's designated as the Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus. So it's a campus for enterprise at the heart of that. We're putting a new building up and it is designed to be open, designed to be porous from the outset and it really will be a fusion, a melting pot of.
00:16:21 Simon Bond
Academic divisions and schools, smart Internet labs for telecoms cybersecurity labs for cyber.
00:16:28 Simon Bond
Entrepreneurship centers. So the Center for Entrepreneurship and innovation will be based there. Bristle innovations will be based there as.
00:16:34 Simon Bond
Well.
00:16:35 Simon Bond
Students, businesses, citizens accessing some of our civic activities to the Bristol Rooms that will bring civic partners together to solve problems, find solutions for.
00:16:48 Simon Bond
Next generation of citizens of Bristol all coming together. I don't know what it will be like.
00:16:53 Simon Bond
I'm excited, a little bit terrified as well because this is very, very new because we will be mixing. There will be lots of communal areas and communal ways of behaving as well. So place and culture fused in a in a new very, very significant investment by Bruce. It's an experiment. It's been informed by a lot of the practice.
00:17:14 Simon Bond
Around the world, so there is discipline and purpose to this, but this is very, very new territory for Bristol. Looking forward to sharing the the results, the journey with you really and I'm sure we've got lots to lots to talk about with.
00:17:26 Roydean Osman
That will be really great.
00:17:28 Roydean Osman
Yeah, I think I seconded assignment on that, especially touching, touching on the mindset because, you know, the challenges for us here at the university, we have a lot of good researchers, no doubt about it. But when it comes to entrepreneurship, when it comes to, you know, applied research, they write good papers, good publications. But.
00:17:48 Roydean Osman
How does it translate from, you know, many years of research into applied research into commercialization? That's the challenges there. This is something that myself and my team.
00:17:58 Roydean Osman
Are trying to fill in the gap. Create the awareness. You know I like the University of Bristol, where they're building new infrastructures. We, you know, see, we don't have that large budget to build new infrastructures. So. So being a porous trying to be a porous university, we collaborate together with other universities and industries. When it comes to.
00:18:18 Roydean Osman
Research and product.
00:18:20 Roydean Osman
Development. So sometimes the the research requirement comes from the industries. So at Taylor, you know see we we like this kind of initiatives where we scout around for research initiative that is are in needs by the industry and then we will invite them to our university talk about it.
00:18:40 Roydean Osman
And maybe you.
00:18:41 Roydean Osman
From an agreement for product development and stuff like that. At the same time, we are trying to push our postgraduate to further develop advanced technology or Advanced Research relating to the domain focus. As far as Taylor University, we only have about four faculties, which is the Faculty of Innovation and Technology Faculty of.
00:19:01 Roydean Osman
Health and medical science faculty of business and law and Faculty of Social Science. So we are trying to maximize these faculties and the schools under it so that we can produce good, good research and good commercialization outcomes. By doing this, we we do a lot of.
00:19:17 Roydean Osman
Collaborations are not just infrastructures development but more collaboration. That's why when you know see Vista invited us, we're quite happy to to further discuss about this. We can share this experience and see how tailors also can position the university in in the right way, in the right ecosystem to to push.
00:19:37 Roydean Osman
Switch to towards commercialize.
00:19:40 Roydean Osman
It's like we are still a baby trying to find our way.
00:19:44 Simon Bond
Not a day. This is. I think this is the interesting thing. Exciting thing about the, the, the, the globalisation of university relationships there. I think there are no old people and there are no babies. Everybody's experience is relevant to their, to their context, to their marketplace.
00:20:03 Simon Bond
Diversity of Bristol we have experience in building out our infrastructure. The UK is a is a is an older.
00:20:10 Simon Bond
For me, but the bulk of the world's economy is developing in the East and innovation is is for users, for customers, and so everybody brings a new and unique capability to this mission of university LED or university inspired innovation. I mean one thing that.
00:20:31 Simon Bond
You know, I I it's now it just makes me take a take a short breath. The I still see lots of references to Silicon Valley and Silicon Valley is a fantastic model.
00:20:34
Ah.
00:20:42 Simon Bond
It it it?
00:20:43 Simon Bond
Is and it was a a fantastic model but.
00:20:46 Simon Bond
Done.
00:20:47 Simon Bond
You know it's it's it's spawned global values, global ecosystems and it's not the only model in the world anymore. And I think I, I I think that defaults to all the next Silicon Valley is is old fashioned language doesn't really have a place.
00:21:07 Simon Bond
And what we're doing today?
00:21:16 Will Mountford
To pick up on the notions of Silicon Valley and reading what you said about bridging into local industry, one of the biggest industries in Malaysia is whitetail, and all of the technology, the supercomputing that they are developing. And I know that there's the fastest supercomputer from Ytl coming up for.
00:21:33 Will Mountford
Very soon. How are you embracing that from? Not just the commercialization department, but the medicine, the law, the legal, the societal departments, because it's going to touch on every part of society. It will it be faster? Different. What comes next to you?
00:21:51 Roydean Osman
Whitley's collaboration with NVIDIA is still new to us because it just happened recently in in Malaysia. But I think as far as computer chips manufacturing in Malaysia has been here for more than a.
00:22:04 Roydean Osman
Decades, there's a lot of, you know, even Intel. Hewlett packet, all this chip manufacturer AMD was here in Malaysia for the longest time. So now I think the domination government sees an opportunity to bring up the ranks so they they focus more on AI because since Malaysia they're leveraging.
00:22:25 Roydean Osman
Or the on the chip manufacturing here.
00:22:27 Roydean Osman
Alicia and also some of the chips are for NVIDIA is being made here in Malaysia, so this is a good opportunity for the academia here in Malaysia to take that collaboration between TfL and INVIDIA to collaborate as part as part of research initiatives. That's how I foresee it as AI is is is getting intensified.
00:22:48 Roydean Osman
Day by day, all over the world. You know, you keep seeing new applications, new robots, new solutions to a lot of.
00:22:56 Roydean Osman
Cross sector areas in the world, we will look forward for some collaboration with YTL, but we need to also way our strength where we'll be coming from as far as like you mentioned earlier in whether it's going to be in the medical space or whether it's going to be you know in the education space or.
00:23:16 Roydean Osman
Travel and tourism space every part of the sector cross domain will have an important role where AI will exist.
00:23:24 Roydean Osman
This is an opportunity at this point in time because it's like like Simon say, Silicon Valley has left already a long time. You know, the the world has changed. Collaboration is maybe one of the many ways that can make a successful research towards commercialization or innovation.
00:23:43 Simon Bond
The national investments in AI are really interesting to watch, and the University of Bristol for the UK is.
00:23:54 Simon Bond
Is an exciting place to be. We we received a a large investment in a AI supercomputer last year, a supercomputer which has been put in place very quickly using NVIDIA chips as well.
00:24:13 Simon Bond
It's a. It's a. It's a research asset, National Research asset and I think it's kind of push forward. The very specific area of artificial intelligence to deal with certain applications of large language models that.
00:24:29 Simon Bond
But it's it's therefore what I think is additionally interesting is role in innovation and entrepreneurship.
00:24:39 Simon Bond
But the ecosystem, Bristol has a competitor to NVIDIA, a company called Graph Core, which is really a spin out of the University of of Bristol. There's a bit of a story here. The University of Bristol spun out a company called X.
00:24:53 Simon Bond
Moss and then ex MOS spun out the company graph core, which has had some success in some application areas of AI chips and applications is, I think the most important part of our next next narrative.
00:25:14 Simon Bond
We're good at AI, but what's it good for? And that's what we're exploring. So I was very pleased last week. Could you believe that the University of Bristol, one AI University of the year at our national AI Awards and that was based on 2AW?
00:25:28 Simon Bond
Ports. The other was for AI application in a telecommunications project called Reason, and that's that's an application that's that's changing the way that networks are configured. They're security aspect. If there was a quantum award, which I'm sure there will be that same project, I think could also.
00:25:48 Simon Bond
Win that because it's potential to apply quantum technologies. Is is equally important and these these these fusion.
00:25:56 Simon Bond
Points in order to provide services that are valuable to users, citizens, national security, national economy is is where our thinking is that the other is in terms of our economy as just two companies that I think illustrate the the.
00:26:16 Simon Bond
Effects of having a university with deep specializations in artificial intelligence and and related quantum technologies and both are great success stories, but very different one.
00:26:28 Simon Bond
A University of Bristol spin out called Psycho Quantum last venture round was £325 million in 2000.
00:26:37 Simon Bond
12 and then it received half a billion Australian dollars as an investment. I think it was at the end of end of last year. It's a really great company pushing forward quantum computing. It's based in Australia now, so we're very proud of it. It's it reflects well on, on, on our, our research and.
00:26:58 Simon Bond
Our ambition, but it's not based in Bristol, but it contributes to the.
00:27:03 Simon Bond
Another company, 0 point motion, which it uses photonics for sensing around acceleration and rotation, so applications for autonomous vehicles, drones and so forth. That was a a company that came out of another UK university but moved to Bristol in order to tap into our research.
00:27:23 Simon Bond
So this concept of technological capability and entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem being porous. So.
00:27:32 Simon Bond
We accept that our companies may choose to locate outside of the Bristol ecosystem and that is still a credit to us, an important role in the world, and we also accept that we will welcome absolutely, we welcome our open arms businesses that come to Bristol to set up as well.
00:27:54 Simon Bond
And both of those are successes. So this is an ecosystem, a porous plate. It's not a linear.
00:28:07 Will Mountford
Can you tell me why IP protection management and the success of Tele University in that field really matters for those industries?
00:28:15 Roydean Osman
Yeah, I think not all intellectual property that is built from research will be protected by us. We normally evaluate those potential research for commercialization. So you know if we.
00:28:29 Roydean Osman
We we have a robust IP framework to protect our intellectual properties because but but you know our bought bought you know doesn't want us to protect every IP under the sun. The IP must have some kind of value to the industry before we go ahead and protect. And this is where we run through the the the research.
00:28:49 Roydean Osman
The the invention disclosure through a committee. So once we run through a panel of committees.
00:28:54 Roydean Osman
Which is represented by our internal stakeholders and also external, which is from the sometimes from the industry. If we get enough support, then we would protect the IP and and and spend our money on. But if we don't have enough support and you know in terms of valuation in terms of attraction of IP, then we will not spend our money.
00:29:16 Roydean Osman
To to protect the IP.
00:29:17 Roydean Osman
Because not all it IP are when it's driven by researchers, they want it to be commercialized, is sometimes for the sake of protecting their publications. You know, their their projects for awards and and not not all the good research develops, technology wants to be an entrepreneur. That's that's the.
00:29:38 Roydean Osman
That's the issue that.
00:29:39 Roydean Osman
We have in, I think a lot of universities are like that and that's why we protect IP where we see the potential that is going to be take up from the industry or to be commercialized as part of our product development in companies. Yeah, but we don't protect everything that that's our our.
00:29:59 Roydean Osman
Strategy of our IP strategy in Taylor University, yeah.
00:30:04 Will Mountford
To pick up on that thread of not every researcher wanting to be an entrepreneur, we've talked about facilitating business, entrepreneurship and the campus, but the people are going to be what makes those businesses succeed. Are those collaborations happen? So what can be done to support and nurture incoming students or?
00:30:24 Will Mountford
The talent that is already there in the staff and in the people who developing those companies to not just make them happy and successful, but to build an attitude.
00:30:33 Will Mountford
Fact, wherever it is that they teach, can maybe take those next step forwards to to put that back into an economic success.
00:30:42 Simon Bond
If you look at the at the question of the opportunity, what can be done to prepare a pathway for everybody joining a university like ours? Then you you do have to look at it as as a pathway with.
00:30:59 Simon Bond
It will not be everybody's destiny to become a business founder or leader, but everybody we we hope will grow and flourish and become active in society, active in the economy and we we would like to see them equipped with the entrepreneurial skills, innovative, contemporary.
00:31:20 Simon Bond
Thinking that to make them as as you know the best they can be in what would be a very, very challenging.
00:31:26 Simon Bond
Society in the future will be great opportunities as well. We talk about AI, quantum engineering, biology. There's so much the young people, you know, they've got so much to look, look forward to, but it is pathways and choices. So we we we've we've looked to create sort of in incorrectly, Lum and extra curriculum activities right the way through.
00:31:45 Simon Bond
The universe and this applies to students and also to to those choosing a research pathway as well. So in so many of our undergraduate courses and and and graduate courses, there is an embedded entry.
00:31:59 Simon Bond
Internship element to that quite applied often as well workshops, but it's backed up by extracurricular support, which is a choice for students. So we have student entrepreneurship programs, student incubators as well, a lot of.
00:32:19 Simon Bond
Entrepreneurial competitions that allow students to to test and try out business plan.
00:32:24 Simon Bond
Check them with external judges from business and so forth to see if their ideas have merit and also for our for researchers, we have an enterprising fellowship program that that will sponsor buy out time of researchers who are exploring potential entrepreneurial ideas.
00:32:44 Simon Bond
With the expectation that the journey is the reward. So this is where we don't necessarily success is not measured just by the numbers of outputs, number of spin outs, although we do measure all that as well. Number of disclosures that that's counted of course we're a good.
00:33:00 Simon Bond
Firstly, where keep people accountable, but development of culture is just as important if you if you stimulate this interest, you've got to be able to follow through. So we have investment funds as well to be able to make some grants and also some equity and loans to individuals, students and staff that decide to take the next step.
00:33:21 Simon Bond
To form a spin out company and then we have new facilities have incubators outside of the university in partnership.
00:33:29 Simon Bond
With set squared who I mentioned as a partnership of six UK universities through science creates, which is another incubator highly specialized in deep tech. So I've got referral points and we run investment showcases for specialized groups. So for example, they form the partnership with Oxford, Cambridge.
00:33:50 Simon Bond
Imperial UCL Mancha.
00:33:53 Simon Bond
In order to promote our intellectual property, our licenses, our entrepreneurial ideas in advanced materials called Accelerate 0. So that's very, very special. The ability to follow through at every step of that chain from the early stage. I'm curious about entrepreneurship and innovation.
00:34:13 Simon Bond
Right. The way through to.
00:34:15 Simon Bond
I need options on raising my series B round and I want to recruit some new talent for my business and could you put me?
00:34:22 Simon Bond
In touch with.
00:34:23 Simon Bond
The inward investment agency in Bristol, because I need to buy 28,000 square feet of new factory space.
00:34:31 Simon Bond
That's that's the approach that we're taking joined.
00:34:34 Simon Bond
Up.
00:34:35 Roydean Osman
On on Taylor's side I I do agree with a lot that Simon saying in terms of the programs also on our side, I think in our unity we are trying to, you know stress more on the, the on the mindset shift.
00:34:50 Roydean Osman
To be, you know, a technical expertise, but to think about entrepreneurship, you know, we do integrate some entrepreneurship programs in, in our bachelor degree course courses and postgraduates, but there's one course that we established, which is for students who, at the end of the degree, they want to have their own.
00:35:11 Roydean Osman
Startups. So during the three years, four years.
00:35:14 Roydean Osman
Courses they they develop business plan, they develop, you know pitching experience, getting the venture capital talking to the venture capital or venture investors at the end of the day towards their graduation if they decide they can establish their own spin-off or their own startup companies and.
00:35:34 Roydean Osman
You know, learned put whatever they have learned in in in that program.
00:35:39 Roydean Osman
Into new startups and the beauty about this program is that we allow these business students to select technologies from different faculties or different schools that has developed technologies but not not really interested interested to commercialize. But then.
00:35:59 Roydean Osman
If they work together as an entrepreneurship team building that started environment, then they will. They can productize that, that, that, that research or that products into their startup or spin or that's our approach of doing things in compared to the normal.
00:36:15 Roydean Osman
Which so so we we we support the students to select those technologies that are being developed by other researchers in the universities in different faculties they want to take the challenge to be part of the entrepreneurship team. Then we will help them to assemble or incubate that that company all together and and roll out when once they graduate.
00:36:35 Roydean Osman
Or even one year before graduate, we start to find venture funds and stuff like that. And until they they really graduate and, you know, have their own products or, you know, within their startups, that's that's one way we're doing doing. Yeah. That's one way we we.
00:36:47 Simon Bond
As of the sound of that.
00:36:50 Simon Bond
Really impressive.
00:36:51 Roydean Osman
Yeah, that's one way. We're doing it right now, so that it's it's more like bootstrapping, a lot of things instead of just, you know, following the flow. So that's one way. But on top of that, my department, we also provide holistic entrepreneurship training, IP clinics for staff.
00:37:11 Roydean Osman
Jumpstart innovation is basically a design thinking for a period of of four months. The staff will get involved in this program together with the industry leaders to develop to ignite ideas.
00:37:25 Roydean Osman
Through the design thinking experience because I think, I mean we we think that if our staff have this experience.
00:37:32 Roydean Osman
It will trickle down to the students when they teach the students in their bachelors degrees or their postgraduates, or or whatever. You know, they will apply this methodology together and and it will create.
00:37:44 Roydean Osman
That the entrepreneurship mindset.
00:37:49 Will Mountford
Span.
00:37:50 Simon Bond
It's been really interesting speaking to you, Roy, there and you've shared some very exciting ideas that have inspired me, particularly what you're doing there with selling challenges for, for, for new spin outs and and also seeding design thinking into into faculty staff. There's never enough approaches. So that's inspiring. I'm also, I'm very taken.
00:38:09 Simon Bond
By your universities alignment with national priorities, with with supercomputing, but not just that as well as semiconductors and so forth. And it does.
00:38:20 Simon Bond
You know, looking at the next four or five years ahead and the changing nature of global supply routes and so forth, and I think that's that's an area where Europe, Asia is going to collaborate more and more on. So it's very important to me to have strong.
00:38:40 Simon Bond
Reliable friends relation.
00:38:42 Simon Bond
Ships with players in key locations around the world with with a shared ambition to ensure the security of our countries to ensure that that that research, development and innovation continues at that pace. You know, for the good of our citizens as well As for our institutions as well, so.
00:39:02 Simon Bond
Inside the university, you've inspired me, but also your commitment to national international priorities is something that I think we're very aligned.
00:39:09
Oh.
00:39:10 Roydean Osman
I think on Taylor side we are very excited to learn more about your infrastructure development that you mentioned earlier. I think this is going to be a a great opportunity for collaboration in the future because I see that you know a University of Bristol is quite aggressive in building innovation hub and this new campus that you're building will be.
00:39:31 Roydean Osman
It seems to be more enterprising and more, you know, advanced technology driven. So we we hope that you know once everything is complete or you know you during the phased, we're quite open to any shift to open innovations or collaboration on cross sectors.
00:39:48 Roydean Osman
If you may, you know that both of us have strength in, in terms of research, I think you know, doing research so low is a lot more different than doing collaboratively at at the global level. You know the outcome can be a greater impact. You know you know more growth for for both of us.
00:40:09 Roydean Osman
Between the Taylors and University of Bristol.
00:40:11 Roydean Osman
So I look forward to to meeting Simon again and you know to talk more about it because I'm pretty sure this one hour is not really enough to talk about a lot of things that we we have a lot on our plate, yeah.
00:40:25 Simon Bond
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You're very, very welcome to come to. I look forward to showing you around.
00:40:26
Yep, Yep.
00:40:28 Roydean Osman
Yep.
00:40:31 Simon Bond
Our our new Temple quarter enterprise campus really been a pleasure speaking to.
00:40:36 Will Mountford
Well, for now, say thank you both so much for your time.
00:40:36 Roydean Osman
All right.
00:40:38 Roydean Osman
Have a good one.
00:40:39 Simon Bond
And you as well speak again.