Commercialising university Intellectual Property – a whole of ecosystem approach

Swinburne University recently took a different tactic to deliver impact. We instigated an online Soapbox to promote our research outputs. Instead of pushing our intellectual property (IP) to our industry contacts, we explored flipping this model. We said, “we don’t know the best way to commercialise this particular IP, could you help us?” We put this to an audience that included investors, entrepreneurs and subject-matter experts. It was only possible because, thanks to Covid-19, we have all become very comfortable with zoom meetings. The idea was to have eight quick presentations followed by individual zoom-breakout-rooms that allowed interested parties to delve deeper into the technology. We had 200 people register for the event, a peak audience of 111, with about 50 people attending the breakout rooms. We specifically targeted an Australian audience but we are looking to expand this format, globally. Yes, there were some technical hitches and the format will evolve but the key goal, encouraging people to people drop into the breakrooms to share their insights, ideas and networks, was achieved. Overall it was a very positive outcome with over half of the technologies being examined further for potential licensing or partnering opportunities. 

Australia has a highly experienced group of entrepreneurs and industry experts, many of whom are incredibly generous with their time, experience and ideas. This soapbox approach provides a viable mechanism to match a subject-matter expert with orphaned IP, to ultimately support great ideas finding a path to market.