Highly successful year for Cambridge Enterprise

The number of Intellectual Property transactions completed by Cambridge Enterprise continued to rise in 2009, along with a 39 per cent increase in the number of consultancy agreements negotiated on behalf of the University's academics. Responsible for the commercialisation of University research, Cambridge Enterprise's just -released 2009 Annual Review shows income of £8 million from licensing, consultancy, royalties and equity realisations. Cambridge Enterprise currently holds equity in 72 companies on behalf of the University, and 2009 was a highly successful year for many of those in the portfolio with 22 of the companies raising more than £62 million pounds in follow-on funding. For, example, Enecsys, secured $10 million in funding toward developing a micro-inverter for photo photovoltaic panels with plans to revolutionise the solar industry by enabling higher performance and lower cost 'plug and play' solar power systems. Psynova Neurotech, which was founded in 2005 by Sabine Bahn of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, specialises in biomarkers to diagnose and monitor diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disease. In 2009 they entered a collaboration with Rules Based Medicine to provide a route to market for their first product. "We are very fortunate at Cambridge to have a flexible IP policy that respects the interests of our academics," said Teri Willey, Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise.