Universities in Newcastle and Durham have established an accelerator to generate more spinouts in the northeast of England region.
University of Newcastle and Durham University joined forces today to set up the Northern Accelerator, a program aimed at generating 15 technology spinouts within three years.
The two institutions hope the initiative will build a technology ecosystem in the northeast of England by luring talented business executives.
The selected spinouts will work with Technology Transfer & Licensing and with Research and Innovation Services, the respective commercialisation arms of Newcastle and Durham universities.
Both tech transfer offices will aim to connect early-stage intellectual property with a strong management team to generate spinouts.
Each spinout will receive as much as £25,000 ($32,000) in seed funding from the accelerator, in addition to sweat equity such as expertise, networking contacts or administrative assistance.
The EU-owned European Regional Development Fund is also due to contribute some capital to the scheme.
A tender has been issued for financial consultants hoping to run the Northern Accelerator’s executive. The executive contract is expected to last through January 2022.
Tim Hammond, director of commercialisation and economic development at Durham University, said: “The fund makes available up to £25,000 per opportunity and this, together with a typical sweat equity package, aims to broaden the attractiveness of this startup leadership role.
“The contracted executives will develop the business plan, make the company investor ready and raise the investment funds to enable him or her to take the business forward.”
