Published: 4th May 2023
On 10 March 2023, MINDS CDT researchers joined doctoral students from the Universities of Nottingham and Surrey, King's College London, and Imperial College London for an Introduction to Enterprise workshop at the Royal Society in London. The event was designed to develop practical skills in networking, pitching research to stakeholders, and thinking about the commercial potential of doctoral work.
The day opened with a presentation on building biotech companies by Stephen Chambers of IndieBio, one of the world's leading life sciences accelerators. Entrepreneur talks followed from Iris Kramer of ArchAI, which applies AI to archaeological research, and Michel Valstar of BlueSkeye, a company working on AI-powered emotion recognition technology.
A panel discussion chaired by Steve Morgan brought these perspectives together, with panelists discussing funding routes, building a team, and navigating the transition from academic research to a commercial venture. The session gave researchers a chance to ask direct questions of founders who had already made that journey.
Practical workshops and networking sessions ran throughout the day, giving MINDS researchers time to develop their pitching skills and make connections with doctoral students from other institutions working in adjacent fields.
The workshop reflected a core part of the MINDS approach: that doctoral researchers benefit from understanding the commercial and enterprise landscape around their work, not just the academic one. Knowing how to communicate the value of research to a non-specialist audience, and how to think about routes to impact, are skills that serve researchers well beyond the PhD.