Searle goes on the defensive

Susan Searle, former chief executive of Imperial Innovations Group from 2002 to July 2013, has this month joined the board of UK-listed defence development group Qinetiq.

Qinetiq was spun out from the UK government’s defence ministry where it had been responsible for developing and commercialising its intellectual property. In turn, Searle brings more than 20 years’ experience around the world of international university commercialisation after she took the technology transfer office (TTO) of UK university Imperial College London (ICL) to listing on Aim, the alternative investment market, and becoming one of the largest and most successful long-term investors in science-based innovations.

She had previously been in business development in industry, including oil major Royal Dutch Shell, which, in a profile for her Global University Venturing Award for Lifetime Achievement, she described as crucial training: “It was about getting things running, in a commercial setting.”

In 1997, she became a director of electric motors maker Turbo Power Systems, spun out of the mechanical engineering department of ICL and now listed on the London Stock Exchange. Searle has also spent more than four years as a non-executive director at clean-tech firm Plaxica, which last year raised £8m in its series C round from an Imperial Innovations-led consortium that included Invesco.

Of her time at Imperial Innovations, Searle said for the awards profile: “It has been a long journey and taken a lot of energy to fundraise every year between 2005, 2006’s listing on Aim and run a business. It has been really hard work.”

Innovations’ capital raisings include £140m ($225m) in 2011 and £30m debt from the European Investment Bank. Searle said that during her tenure as chief executive, Imperial Innovations invested £121m in the portfolio and the team grew to 53, with about 2,000 people employed in portfolio companies. Beyond its own balance-sheet funding, the portfolio companies have raised further funding. Since its flotation, Imperial Innovations spin-outs have attracted more than £430m in external funding, outstripping peers such as Oxford’s £340m since 2000 and UCL’s £370m since 2001.

Picture source: Susan Searle/Twitter