Gavin Clark, Mark Mann: Here’s how to build a shared TTO

Towards the end of last year, the University of the Arts London secured a grant from Research England to lead a consortium of six universities that would develop a shared TTO focused on creative and social sciences. The pilot project, dubbed Shared Technology Transfer Office to Accelerate the Growth of Self-Funded Spinouts (STAGE), has now come to a close so it's the perfect time to reflect on what's gone well and what needs to happen next. Gavin Clark, director of enterprise and commercialisation at the University of the Arts London, and Mark Mann, a consultant who helped bring the consortium together, join me to explain why they used a model from the University of Birmingham to build their project, how that approach works, and what the pitfalls are of wrangling six universities to say “yes” to an external tech transfer office run by specialists from Kindling Ventures. We also explore the importance of capturing data (which will be made public in the coming weeks and months), how the project has drawn international attention and even what it's all meant on a more personal level.