Beyond the Breakthrough · 2024-12-06 · 28 min
To date, 49 universities in the UK have adopted a recommendation to take between 10% and 25% equity in their life science spinouts. The recommendation was inspired by the USIT Guide, published last year by tech transfer group TenU, making it the guide’s arguably biggest impact yet. But it’s just the start. The University of Southampton has used the USIT Guide to develop a Deal Readiness Toolkit. It’s an effort to standardise and harmonise spinout deal negotiations, with templates, checklists, and advice on process improvement, says Diana Galpin, director of enterprise and knowledge exchange at the institution. Ross McNaughton, a partner at law firm Taylor Wessing, welcomes the approach and says he’s keen to see a UK version of US-BOLT, a template term sheet for life science spinouts developed by a group of universities, VC firms and law firms in 2020. For Michelle Barbour, associate vice-chancellor for enterprise and innovation at the University of Bristol , the USIT Guide and the discussion about equity stakes has been an opportunity to educate professors for whom a spinout had previously never been on the cards but who were now interested to learn more.
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