Our project
"Creating the evidence base for shared TTO need in SHAPE spinouts" is running between November 2024 and April 2025, as a collaborative project led by LSE, in partnerships with the Universities of Bristol, Lancaster and Leicester and the Royal College of Art. The project is also being supported by global innovation consultancy, Oxentia. It will provide a new understanding of the value proposition for shared technology transfer office (TTO) models in SHAPE commercialisation, with the aim of optimising the outcomes of any future investments of time and resource into shared approaches.
This work addresses a significant gap in policy, sector and funder understanding of the needs, both of smaller institutions with SHAPE-based innovation activity, and of the willingness and ability of larger institutions to meaningfully and effectively share TTO functions to mutual benefit.
We are using a combination of literature review, surveys, interviews and focus groups to produce a detailed picture of:
1. What SHAPE spinout support currently looks like in different universities.
2. Where universities feel they have significant capacity and capability gaps or could support the biggest gains.
3. How much and what sorts of resource larger (or better resourced) institutions might be willing to share to support spinout activity in smaller universities.
4. The most significant challenges and benefits that institutions of all types perceive in sharing TTO functions and the key factors for consideration when assessing possible TTO solutions.
5. Which model(s) of sharing a range of TTO functions are deemed feasible, viable and desirable, and what conditions would need to be met to start implementing one or more of these models.
6. Whether universities would prefer to share capacity at regional level, by specialism, or in line with some other shared characteristic(s).
Literature review
Our literature review [add link] provides a summary overview of a range of current and previous UK and international approaches to sharing support for technology transfer, particularly in SHAPE disciplines. Although none of these emerges as a ‘silver bullet’ to optimise SHAPE support, the review makes clear both that shared approaches have been long and widely considered desirable, and that some are more (and less) effective than others.
Project results
Our survey was open from 12 December to 22 January 2025. Download the survey results analysis.
Devolved nations focus groups were held in February 2025. Download the focus groups analysis.
We conducted 40 interviews with UK Higher Education Providers. Download the full analysis and headline takeaways.
Workshop event
On 29 April 2025, the project team hosted a successful workshop at the Royal College of Art with commercialisation and innovation practitioners from a range of higher education institutions.
The day began with an introduction to the project and a presentation of the findings from the survey, interviews and focus groups included in the report.
Following this, three workshop sessions enabled attendees to discuss their own institutional needs regarding SHAPE commercialisation and collaborate on potential next steps with others who shared similar priorities. These interactive sessions involved:
1. Introduction to Shared Approaches: Participants were introduced to different approaches for SHAPE commercialisation and engaged in discussions to share initial thoughts. They selected their preferred approach to focus on after the coffee break.
2. Developing Shared Support: Groups ideated on the components needed for each approach, sorted them into clusters, and discussed their importance and applicability.
3. Delivering Shared Support: Teams worked on top priority ideas from the previous session, creating models for delivering support under varying resource scenarios.
The event concluded with a wrap-up session summarising the day's discussions and outlining next steps, namely forming groups to further develop ideas and aligning them with ongoing activities. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all participants for their contributions and patience on the day.
Our partners
Next steps
The next steps in our project are to complete detailed analysis of data returned through our sector-wide survey and interviews and to use these (along with insights from the literature review) as the basis for developing a series of recommendations for the further development of shared TTO support for SHAPE.
We will use the feedback gathered from our workshop sessions to share findings, validate preliminary conclusions and refine our proposals for shared approaches for supporting SHAPE commercialisation, before launching a final report by May 2025.
Find out more
Anyone interested in learning more about this project should contact Josef Walker, (josef.walker@leicester.ac.uk) or Jen Fensome (j.fensome@lse.ac.uk).