FEBRUARY 2002 BROADSHEET - Cambridge University Entrepreneurs
We had a good start to the 25 January evening meeting with a well attended AGM under the sure helm of our president, Professor Roger Needham. After reports of a most successful year showing a steady membership, increasing attendance and sound finances the officers were voted back in and three new committee members elected. These replaced two resignations and brought the committee up to it's constitutionally recommended ten, as follows:-
Chairman: Roy Cuthbert
Treasurer: Markus Keller
Secretary: Nigel Wallace
Publicity: Alasdair PooreCommittee: John Batten, Giovanni Bisutti, Simon Kite, Guy Mulley, John Read, Robin Wilkinson
Our grateful thanks go to Simon Goodman, who has organized many excellent meetings, particularly on IP and Biotech subjects, and Dorcas Doolan, who is leaving in March. To Dorcas we also owe a great debt for her lively contributions and particularly for organising and chairing the meeting which followed the AGM, viz. "Cambridge University Entrepreneurs and lessons from the Cambridge Phenomenon".For this she introduced to a very large audience Chris Green, MD of SQW, which produced the Cambridge Phenomenon report of 1985 and Tim Minshall, the programme director of the University of Cambridge Entrepreneurship Centre. Chris showed how the figures had changed in the 15 years since the first report (1983 - 1998): eg. five times the number of hitec companies (270 - 1250), but only two and a half times the number of employees (13500 - 32000) because there are now fewer big companies in the Cambridge area. SQW had also compared entrepreneurial intent between the two universities in Cambridge and found APU much more active in this than its ancient rival. He even found that the Cambridge sixth form colleges had a greater entrepreneurial spirit than either university and concluded that it was the young within the local population who were particularly blessed with this quality - perhaps due to the example set by their parents and the characteristics of the local business environment.
Tim then told us about the training and support activities for enterprising students and researchers that had been developing in Cambridge University since 1999. These activities are delivered through a partnership of the Cambridge Entrepreneurship Centre, the Technology Transfer Office and Cambridge University Entrepreneurs. The University now delivers a wide range of teaching and training programmes (including a summer school catering for would-be entrepreneurs from around the world), and provides mentoring and support for new technology ventures from within and beyond the University. These activities are highly integrated with the local and national business communities (reflected in the level of sponsorship and involvement from companies) and are supported by international partnerships that include MIT's Entrepreneurship Center and CERAM (the business school for Sofia Antipolis).
In the discussion that followed complaints were made of the 3 to 5 % royalties demanded by the universities, but it was generally felt that this was very reasonable in view of the service given. Some successful entrepreneurs cited their own experience, when starting up, of the invaluable help given by "Wise Owls" who had succeeded before them, and it was particularly touching to find that one of them was now passing on his wisdom to an up and coming entrepreneur in the audience.
Contacts: ccgreen@sqw.co.uk and tminshall@stjohns.co.uk
The Club is very fortunate in benefiting from the sponsorship of the following organisations:-
There are also other companies who give us generous help with specific meetings and services.
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