GUV Summit: University Corner

In an increasingly globalised world, innovation and the positive disruption it brings are no longer about a singular rogue scientist driving forward humanity’s progress: it is about collaboration. And to find the seeds of this networking and teamwork essential to our technological success being planted, you need look no further than Global University Venturing’s inaugural summit (see video).

Focusing on the theme of ‘Investing in Disruption’, the event, held at the prestigious Baker Botts offices in the heart of the City of London, brought together individuals, organisation, and corporations representing every part of the innovation pipeline. Set in the grand former dining rooms of Natwest’s banking chairmen, the event looked not to the opulent dinners by its former inhabitants, but to a prosperous future driven by the ground breaking research coming from the leading universities represented at the event.

The idea of collaboration was formalised early on at the Summit with a keynote speech from Shelley Harrison, a senior advisor at Coller Capital and executive-in-residence at New York University, , who also spoke in a video interview. Harrison works as part of a team looking to answer the call by former mayor Michael Bloomberg of how New York City can position itself as a world capital of science and technology whilst dramatically economy. Harrison’s answer? To reinvent itself.

In order to drive this reinvention, New York University (NYU) has launched the Centre for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP). CUSP has set its research agenda as discovering the science of cities. It looks to answer the technical, intellectual, engineering, academic, and human challenges posed by a world which will soon see 70% of us living in cities.

In order to come even close to doing so, CUSP needs to draw on an incredible array of backers in what they can contribute in both data and input into the innovation. NYU will be joined by several academic partners, including Carnegie Mellon University, Warwick University, the University of Toronto, and the Indian Institute of Bombay. Industrial partners include IBM, Microsoft, Xerox, Siemens, and the National Grid. The Department of Energy is dedicating four of its national laboratories to the project. And a further thirteen New York City government agencies have been recruited, such as the departments of transportation, buildings, city planning, ICT, police, and health.

While the coalition of partners in the project may seem ambitious, its ultimate aims are even more so, hence why this level of collaboration will become increasingly important in answering science’s biggest questions and challenges moving forward.

Speaking on the Summit itself, Harrison said: “We have a forum here which is unique. I applaud it, and I’m happy to involved.” He spoke about watching corporate venturing grow into an effective unit, and thinks the same can happen with universities. He said to universities looking to improve their research and their teaching at a reasonable cost: “Reinvent yourself. And reinvention means to get all the different disciplines to cooperate together, provide them the ecosystem that allows for entrepreneurship, and  roll out what they have as companies whilst still allowing for the universities to have a piece of the action.”

This collaboration was also evident in one of the Summit’s un-panel events when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) explained how it was working in projects in other countries in order to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurial activity outside of its own borders. Most notable was the Skolkovo project underway in Russia (see GUV issue 8). Through the amalgamation of MIT with Russian resources, the Institute has been able to launch the Skoltech initiative which brings MIT know-how to a country chronically behind in terms of innovation.

It was these sort of un-panels that reinforced GUV’s mission to stimulate collaboration. Rather than allowing our speakers to deliver a monologue, the summit’s un-panels were structured to stimulate conversation and debate around any given topic, allowing for a greater contribution to and subsequent take-away from the event.

Crispin Leick from RWE Innogy Venture Capital, one of the Summit’s speakers, spoke more about the importance of a forum to bring together all parts of the innovation pipeline. Stating that it can be a struggle for his team to find the right approach in the disruptive side of innovation, he said: “There is a link missing where I think creating a community, for example, Global University Venturing, could make a difference to us in order to hook with the universities, and could be a way forward.” See a video interview with Leick here.

Simon Bond, the chairman of SETsquared, echoed Leick’s comments. He said that corporate venturing could be the way forward, and that SETsquared was looking at ways to tie up its companies with corporate customers and investors. He added that “partnership was the way forward” and that he wanted to see “the partnerships and collaborations working more closely with each other.”

Through our news and features sharing best practice, sharing information from our sister publication Global Corporate Venturing, and future events which network key organisations in the tech transfer space and breed new alliances, GUV is committed to fostering partnerships and collaborations which benefit the sector and wider community over the coming years. Our inaugural summit may have been a success in terms of what we achieved for our first effort, but the best is yet to come.