Australian universities pull together on potential $200m commercialisation company.
Melbourne, Queensland, New South Wales, and Australian National universities are in talks on working together on a new commercialisation firm.
The firm will potentially have $200m at its disposal to invest in spinouts coming out of Australia’s Group of Eight universities – the down under equivalent of the Ivy League or Russell Group.
Should it go ahead, the company will be launched next year, and the universities plan for it to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in time.
Loosely based on the UK’s IP Group, founded on a partnership with Oxford University and which went on to establish commercialisation partnerships with a number of UK and US universities, the company’s primary focus will be on supporting companies at the early stage with a view to help spinouts cross the valley of death.
