Warwick Ventures Ltd is a University technology commercialisation office and wholly owned subsidiary company of the University of Warwick, in Coventry, United Kingdom.
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History
The company was set up as an academic department within the University of Warwick by Ederyn Williams in 2000. In 2010 it was spun-out as a separate company to manage the intellectual property portfolio belonging to the University. The business development managers employed by the company work with academic inventors at the University to identify, protect and develop intellectual property (IP) resulting from their research. This IP is then commercialised through licensing and the formation of spin-out companies. Warwick Ventures provides researchers with commercial advice, funds patent applications and legal costs, and negotiates third-party licences and spin-out company agreements. It then manages the resultant patent portfolio, and seeks to license patents and technologies to companies who invest in developing and selling the products. The company also works with University academics to create new companies, in order to develop University intellectual property into new business opportunities, including by identifying and sourcing investment, management and professional services. As of 2010, the company had made more than 100 patent applications, founded 49 companies, and raised over £30 million in funding for those companies from venture capitalists and business angels, and the company's founder received a Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion for individual achievement.
Patents, licensing, and spin-outs
Spin-out companies from Warwick Ventures include: