Spin Out West
News
BSU joins partners to pilot programme set to boost health and social care innovations in the west of England
Sunday, 26 January, 2025Bath Spa University joins four local Universities, the NHS and private investors in a partnership that has been awarded funding from Research England to deliver SpinOutWest - a new six-month pilot programme to strengthen research commercialisation and increase spin-out activity in health and social care.
Spin-out activities turn academic research into thriving businesses, transforming innovative ideas into viable products or services for the market. The SpinOutWest programme will harness the innovation and creativity from universities with smaller tech transfer capacities, helping them to maximise opportunities for commercial outputs. Sharing best practice, training and experience will help to embed new ways of working, develop new skills and knowledge, and build a culture which supports spin-out activities in the health and social care sector.
SpinOutWest will be led by the University of Bath in partnership with BSU, University of Bristol, University of Gloucestershire, and University of West of England. This is alongside SETsquared, QantX, Angel Investors Bristol, West of England Combined Authority and the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust.
Marty Reid, Executive Director, SETsquared says:
“This project is a great example of regional partners bringing together their unique strengths to benefit the West of England's higher education and innovation ecosystem.
"SETsquared brings over 20 years of research commercialisation experience and a track record of delivering innovation and investment training. Linking the programme to the investment community through QantX and Angel Investors Bristol from the start will provide invaluable insights to help shape these ventures into compelling investment propositions essential for them to get established and grow.”
Less research-intensive universities face unique challenges that can limit research commercialisation and spin-out development. Whilst still having strong research which has the potential to provide new health technologies, devices and therapies, the universities don’t always have the time and resources to be able to consider the commercial potential of these innovations.
The SpinOutWest programme will include:
- Innovation Discovery Workshops to establish the commercial market for research or technology
- Intellectual Property and Sector Review panels
- Development of shared ‘how to’ guides and standardised legal templates
- Joint workshops on building capacity for commercialisation activities.
Professor John Strachan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise at Bath Spa University, comments:
“SpinOutWest highlights the importance of collaborative regional partnerships in driving innovation and addressing health and social care challenges.
"At Bath Spa University, our expertise in social sciences, digital humanities, new media, and the arts provides unique perspectives that can complement traditional approaches to innovation.
"This programme will support universities, often recognized for their innovation and creativity rather than scale of research output, with the resources and frameworks needed to develop spin-out activities. Together, we can transform creative ideas into practical outcomes, enhancing patient care and delivering real benefits to the region.”
Professor Richard Graham, Director of Research and Innovation, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, adds:
“NHS Trusts face similar commercialisation challenges. Managers are focused on continuously improving service efficiency by adopting best practices, often from other hospitals, reducing the time they have on developing ‘in-house’ innovation. This can effectively result in outsourcing innovation activity to third parties such as the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme which supports individuals to pursue commercialisation of ideas. Clinicians/researchers have significant time commitments, further inhibiting innovation discovery. SpinOutWest will support our NHS Trust to unlock and capitalise on existing much-needed intrapreneurial innovation to transform patient care.”