Inspired by Silicon Valley, the university launches a new department and an innovation centre on the same day.
Tristan Farrow
On Tuesday, University College London unveiled its new Department of Management Science and Innovation at the same time as launching UCL Advances, an innovation enterprise centre that brings together researchers and entrepreneurs in an ambitious bid to turn London into a ‘Hi-tech Valley’ modelled on Silicon Valley.
Currall (left), with UCL Provost Malcolm Grant. Photo courtesy of UCL Media Resources.
American-sized ambition
“It’s about building a network of people more than about science parks or business incubators,” says the man behind the drive, Steve Currall, an American academic who hails from Rice University in Texas. Currall heads both UCL Advances and the new department. “The glue that holds together places like Silicon Valley or the ‘Silicon Fens’ in Cambridge, England, is the social network. Silicon Valley didn’t have much in the way of facilities either at the beginning.”
And he should know a few tricks when it comes to commercialising technology. Drawing inspiration from the catalytic role Stanford University played in developing Silicon Valley, by getting researchers and entrepreneurs to chat over coffee, Currall hit on the idea that he could do the same for Texas with Rice. Within five years of founding the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship in 2000, he could justly claim stewardship of 160 new technology company launches and £170 million in raised start-up funding. Through the initiatives at UCL, he aims to repeat this success here in London.
A look inside the new £11 million ‘Engineering Front’ building that will host UCL Advances and the new department of Management Science and Innovation when it opens in summer 2008. Photo courtesy of UCL Media Resources.
Scientists need educating
In Currall’s opinion, scientists and researchers are often ignorant when it comes to business, and could do with some education. The new UCL department of Management Science and Innovation is based within the engineering faculty and aims to fill that gap. It offers a Master’s in Technology Entrepreneurship and an undergraduate degree in Information Management for business, with some course options taught jointly with UCL’s partner institution at the London Business School.
Over the next couple of years the department will recruit an additional ten full-time academic researchers to add to the existing staff of five. They’ll examine the public perception of risk from new technologies, the psychology of innovation, and the links between academic departments and hi-tech companies.
It’s the people, stupid
The social glue, so prized by Currall, will be stewed at UCL Advances, through flagship forums that will aim to facilitate interaction between researchers, entrepreneurs and larger companies interested in building partnerships. The launch event, scheduled for the 16 October at UCL, will cover ‘The Future of Imaging’, and will bring under one roof, academics, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and companies ranging from multinationals developing medical imaging equipment to firms designing video games. Anyone with bright ideas is welcome.
No risk, no reward
Currall is up against cultural barriers too. The UK business community is famous for turning its nose up at riskier investments. As for television programmes like The Apprentice or Dragon’s Den, Currall finds them simplistic: “We’re celebrating the wrong kind of entrepreneur there. In Dragon’s Den, not enough attention is being paid to the lessons learnt through failing in a venture and it would be more useful if they discussed how people overcame obstacles in developing their business ideas.”