Although the sun is not greeting us with its presence today, there are eight new KE professionals shinning professionalism into the sector. I am pleased to introduce to you the six RTTPs and two Candidate RTTPs new to their respective ATTP groups. In the quarter that ATTP announced reaching 500 global RTTPs, this cohort of 10 individuals is part of this iconic milestone. We may not be able to count on the Great British weather, but we can depend on the professionalism of these practitioners.
New to RTTP?
RTTP gives international recognition and validates 5 core competencies:
- Strategy & business insight – strategic thinking; market-led, entrepreneurial approach; business and commercial skills.
- Entrepreneurial leadership – active engagement in securing funding; leading negotiations; developing new ventures
- Effective engagement – communication, collaboration and influencing skills
- Legal & technical knowhow – understanding the key legal, technical and domain-related issues required to effectively transfer knowledge
- Governance & project management – managing projects, knowledge and information flow; developing and managing systems and processes for knowledge exchange
The criteria to become RTTP accredited is to have 3+ years relevant role experience, evidence of skills/knowledge to lead KE/TT projects and/or 60 RTTP CE points (or other qualifications).
We are very pleased to introduce to you the 6 new PraxisAuril members who achieved RTTP accreditation in the last round of submissions
Dr Rich Ferrie RTTP
Director of Tech Transfer, University College Cork
Dr Rich Ferrie joined University College Cork (UCC) as its Director of Technology Transfer in November 2018. He leads the University’s KE, business incubation and consultancy services and has overall responsibility for two of its entrepreneurship programmes. UCC is the lead partner of the Bridge Network Technology Transfer Consortium with Teagasc, CIT and IT Tralee. Previous to joining UCC, Rich spent 18 years at UMIP, the technology transfer office of the University of Manchester, the last 7 of which as Director of Operations. Rich was a member of Knowledge Transfer Ireland’s Review panel for 6 years and is an active member of Praxis Auril’s Professional Development Committee, where he directs its New Venture Creation course. Earlier, Rich spent 11 years in various scientific and commercial development roles with the diagnostics business of AstraZeneca culminating with leadership of its international Sales and Marketing function. A Biochemistry graduate (Sussex), Rich gained a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Reading. After a short period of post-doctoral research with the UK Forensic Science Service, Rich continued his work developing DNA fingerprinting technology at ICI and Cellmark Diagnostics. Rich is an inventor on 4 international patent applications. This work enabled the development of the first commercial cystic fibrosis genetic testing product.
Dr Paul Ashley RTTP
Head of Licensing & Ventures - Life Sciences, Oxford University Innovation Ltd
Paul has an undergraduate degree in Zoology and research experience in neurophysiology and behaviour. Paul’s PhD and post-doc roles investigated mood disorders and pain. Moving away from the bench, Paul became the CEO of a small technology company, commercialising remote monitoring and biotelemetry technology developed at the Defence Science Technology Laboratory UK. Following this, Paul took up a role at AstraZeneca as a member of the management team at the company’s environmental risk assessment facility. Paul joined Oxford University Innovation in July 2011 and oversees a team of life science Licensing and Ventures Managers commercialising a portfolio of over 1000 technologies across the breadth of the life sciences, licensing and creating companies in fields including biotech and drug discovery, medical devices, diagnostics, genomics and digital health. Paul’s team works to identify, protect, de-risk and commercialise the intellectual property created at the University of Oxford, ranked number one university in the world for three years running (Times Higher Education Global Rankings). Since it opened its doors in 1987, OUI has created over 180 companies. Over a third of these have been created in the past three years. Oxford University spin-out companies have collectively raised over £2bn since 2011. Over a half billion of this has been since the start of 2017. Paul has been the project lead on >30 completed licence negotiations and played a significant role in the creation of >13 spin-out companies including the creation of NightStar Therapeutics, recently acquired by Biogen for $877m. Paul has also acted as a line manager and coach for many more projects and transactions including licences, spinouts, IP options, assignments, research collaborations and patent disputes/litigation. Paul is a board observer for a number of Oxford Spin-outs; an Investment Committee member for Lab282; a Steering Committee member for Oxford Centre for Drug Delivery Devices (OxCD3); a Board member of the NIHR Oxford Community Healthcare MedTech and In-Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative; a member of the IP advisory group for Association of Medical Charities; and has previously been a member of the PraxisAuril conference committee.
Ian Gallivan RTTP
Senior Commercialisation Executive, NUI Galway
Ian has over 30 years’ experience working in hardware, software development and project management roles across a variety of sectors from storage to transpiration. Joining NUIG in 2015, Ian manages the college’s ICT Intellectual Property portfolio and works closely with industry to foster collaborative research projects. Previously Ian served as Chief Technology Officer in media distribution start up company from 2003 to 2009 where he was responsible for leading the development of novel media storage technologies and innovative business models. He subsequently went on to lead web application and hardware product development in the telematics sector. Ian has a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from UL with further Masters degrees in Computer Systems Design from Trinity College Dublin and Project Management from UL.
Dr Stuart Wilkinson RTTP
Head, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, University of Oxford
Stuart Wilkinson is Head of the Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team in the Research Services office of the University of Oxford. Stuart's current role is to support the University's engagement and partnership with external organisations across the institution to maximise the impact of the research, including regional partners such as the LEP. Previously Stuart worked as a consultant advising and training governments, companies and research organisations on technology development, intellectual property discovery, commercialisation strategy and business planning. Stuart also worked for Isis Innovation where he was responsible for evaluating, protecting and commercialising intellectual property in materials, engineering, energy and imaging technologies, including developing translational funding applications, business plans and negotiating investment for spin-out businesses. Stuart has a DPhil and MEng in BioMaterials and Materials Science from the University of Oxford.
Dr Angela Calvert RTTP
Deputy Head of Licensing & Ventures, Oxford University Innovation Ltd
Angela specialises in the development and commercialisation of early-stage technologies at Oxford University Innovation, where she manages a team of Licensing & Ventures Managers specialising in Life Sciences in particular technologies for the pharma, vaccine, biotech, diagnostic, medical device industries. Angela's core skills include; IP management, development of technology innovations, business planning, commercial evaluations, raising investment, licensing, people management and finding creative solutions to problems
Dr Steve Fish RTTP
Faculty Director of Partnerships and Business Engagement, Lancaster University
Steve took up the role as Director of Partnerships and Business Engagement in 2017. Prior to this, he led the Business Engagement Team in the School of Commuting and Communications since 2013. The role of Faculty Director of Partnerships and Engagement takes responsibility for the development, direction and delivery of partnerships and business engagement for the Faculty of Science and Technology at Lancaster University and management of an award-winning team of over 50 staff. Steve has gained insight of the HE sector whilst working at Dundee, Leicester, Aberystwyth and Lancaster Universities and passionately believes that collaborative partnerships make a lasting contribution to communities and the economy. He is an author of a joint knowledge exchange project with the University of Cumbria- the Cumbria Innovations Platform (CUSP)- and is developing additional initiatives with Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Manchester, and the University of Salford, in collaboration with colleagues.
Li Huajin RTTP
Technology Transfer Manager, Jiangsu Academy of Industrial Technology Research Institute
Li Huajin works as a business manager in the equipment and manufacturing department of Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI). He has a bachelor's degree in electronics, a master's degree in law and six years of experience in intellectual property services and technology transfer.
JITRI is a new form of research and development organization, which was established in December 2013 by Jiangsu Provincial Government. JITRI has 47 specialized research institutes and over 6000 R&D personnel until June 2019.
On the one hand, we help these institutes bring their technology or products to market. On the other hand, we accept commissions from large companies to help them find technical solutions. In addition, each year we will select some good projects from abroad and support these teams to start a business in Jiangsu, China.
Candidate RTTP
Candidate RTTP is a new designation that allows entrants to the profession to signal that they have committed to a pathway of training and development leading to the award of full RTTP status. It indicates to employers that they are serious about their career and aspire to meet the highest standards. They may use the designation ‘Candidate RTTP’ after their name.
It is normally expected that Candidate RTTP designation will be sought approximately 6 months into their post (typically at the halfway point of a probation period) by which time the Candidate and their manager will be able to judge their suitability and commitment to the Pathway.
We are very pleased to introduce to you the 2 new PraxisAuril members who were accepted onto the Candidate Pathway RTTP programme
Luke Southan Candidate RTTP
Technology Transfer Manager, Aston University
Luke Southan has been working as a dedicated Technology Transfer Manager at Aston University supporting their Schools of Life Science and Medicine since February 2018. Before that, he held roles in both industry and academia. He spent five years working for The Binding Site, primarily as a Research Scientist developing novel immunodiagnostics for Primary Immunodeficiencies and Multiple Myeloma. Then two years at the Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin, where he worked in preclinical therapeutics development for pharmacoresistant Epilepsy. He also spent two years as an adviser to Spark Berlin, a dedicated accelerator for translational research in areas of unmet clinical need.
Uche Agwo Candidate RTTP, PhD
Academic Liaison Manager, GlaxoSmithKline
Uche is a Senior Manager within the GSK Academic Liaison group, a global organisation headed by Dr Malcolm Skingle (CBE). Uche is responsible for contracts and alliance management for pan R&D collaborations with academia such as multi-party research collaborations, licensing, material and knowledge transfer agreements. Prior to joining as an academic liaison, he was an outsourcing and contracts manager for nonclinical programmes, responsible for contracting of highly bespoke commercial deals, and an externalisation lead, providing strategic and scientific support globally for various small molecule development and manufacturing. Over his 16 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Uche has led multiple projects involving external collaboration with a focus on enabling product development through technology transfer and understanding of the regulatory landscape. A Pharmaceutical Scientist by training, Uche received his undergraduate and master’s degree from Kingston University and PhD from the University of Leeds. His specific scientific interests are in materials science with expertise in probing and speciating the multi-particulate phases of complex solid dosage forms.
The next deadline for RTTP and Candidate RTTP submissions is 18th July 2019. For more information or questions regarding the application process contact Georgina Wark on georgina.wark@praxisauril.org.uk