Marrying ideas to funding

Jan 28 2008 By The Journal

AS a dating agency brings together two parts of a couple to build a lasting relationship, so the technology industry in the North-East needs a similar kind of marriage broker, says leading enterprise academic and serial entrepreneur Professor Max Robinson.

He explains: “There is no shortage of ideas, they’re spilling out all over the place. It’s putting the people together and getting the right financial support packages to make businesses happen where there is more to do.

“The Harness Technology conference will be a forum for people to mix and to get the message across that people is the key to it all.

“I hope it will light the fuse of entrepreneurship, show both academics and entrepreneurs what is possible and take away some of the mystique.”

Prof Robinson, who is Director of Enterprise Education at Durham University, says in some areas the region’s five universities already have a good record of spinning out research that is commercially viable.

For example, the widely acclaimed Blueprint competition which he initiated attracts up to 200 entries from under-graduates each year and has spawned 60 businesses employing a total of 140 people.

He explains: “In parts, such as putting deals together and getting the expert advice on intellectual property, this region’s universities are leading the way. When it works it works brilliantly.

“Academics also have a lot of transferable skills. For example, filling out research grant applications are not very different to writing a business plan and running a large research group that can absorb £1m means managing a team and a significant budget.”

There may be no scarcity of ideas but where the region is falling down is in finding the right people and the right kind of money, he adds.

“There are plenty of exciting and innovative technological ideas but not many exciting and innovative sources of funding,” says Prof Robinson. “There are too many hoops to jump through. The people with their hands on the purse strings need to be more entrepreneurial.

“It seems that money counts for everything but ideas count for nothing. The funders need to be more willing to take risks.”

Many academics rely on family and friends for financial support. Other options include Department for Trade and Industry grants, banks and business angels.

Prof Robinson concludes: “To me, business angels are key to it. They can provide not just cash but business acumen and experience as well.

“There are quite a lot of them in this region, we just need to match them with the ideas.

“There is a difference between the innovator and the entrepreneur.

“Very often we expect the innovator to continue to come up with ideas and also to know how to take their product to market, yet these require very different skill sets.

“There are a few individuals who combine the two – James Dyson, for example – but generally they are not the same person.

“It’s not even as simple as putting business students together with technologists. I’m not sure what the answer is but somehow we need to broker these partnerships.

“I hope the conference will help us find a clear path towards achieving that.”