Celebrating 10 Years of?Innovate UK ICURe ?? - The ICURe community celebrated a decade of impact at an event yesterday in Manchester. Academics, TTOs, ICURe alumni, investors and others from across the spinout ecosystem came together to focus on the experience of commercialising the UK's world-leading academic research.
Highlighting the many success stories of ICURe spin-outs, Lisa Hazelden, Chief Product Officer, congratulated the audience, saying in her keynote, “It is no mean feat to go on the journey from research project to successful entrepreneur.
While Innovate UK and others support and provide access to advice, investment, connections, and the many other elements of building a business, only you travel that journey in its entirety. So, I congratulate anyone who is on that path – at whatever stage they are at.”
Lively sessions included:
- An opening keynote from Andrew Williamson Managing Partner, Cambridge Innovation Capital about his journey from researcher to entrepreneur to investor which was concluded by an open Q&A with Lisa Hazelden and David Wilkes
- Success stories from ICURe spin-out cofounders including?Srijan Jindal, Innotive Diagnostics Roxana I. Teodor, PhD, AFHEA, Veiovia Ltd. - A UoY spin-out company and Ben Dolman, Holiferm
- A panel discussion with Technology Transfer Officers emphasised ICURe's crucial role in advancing university commercialisation strategies, attributing the programme's success to the UK's world-leading research base
- How to generate more investment in spinouts, in a session chaired by Medicines Discovery Catapult, CEO, Chris Molloy with panellists including?Nicola Broughton, Wobble Genomics Ltd,?Shelley Brown, Zinc VC,?Emma Cassidy, DSW Ventures and Tim Eyes?Imperagen
- The programme’s new strategic vision to drive research commercialisation into the next decade from Geeta Nathan, Deputy Director of Start-Up Ecosystem at Innovate UK
As a flagship pre-accelerator programme, ICURe has empowered researchers to transform cutting-edge UK research into high-growth businesses, fuelling economic growth, societal impact, and real-world innovation that includes:
? 319 spinouts launched
? £500M+ in follow-on funding secured
? 1,450 jobs created
ICURe is part of Innovate UK’s broader vision to create a seamless pathway of support for innovative businesses. By combining funding, tailored business support, and stronger industry connections, we are building a more coherent, high-impact innovation ecosystem that helps start-ups scale faster and more effectively.
Read more about ICURe 10 Year Impact Report here - https://lnkd.in/d_wYRSsC