THE UCL PERSPECTIVE
UCL is extremely well placed to not just respond to these changing demands, but to lead the way in creating a new paradigm for inculcating and nurturing grass-roots academic, clinical and entrepreneurial activities.
There are currently more than 150 staff, in more than 35 departments, institutes and centres, working in 12 distinctive thematic areas ranging from structural implants, medical imaging and in-vitro diagnostics through to environmental & assistive engineering and e-health. Many millions of pounds of research funding are won every year, and the output metrics such as citation factors are very impressive.
In enterprise terms there are some notable examples of successful UCL-driven translation, with a handful of spin-out companies (including Endomagnetics, Evexar Medical, IXICO, and Stanmore Implants Worldwide) bringing products to market, and a number of licensing deals signed. While this track record is not too bad, it is a drop in the ocean compared to the full potential of the translatable R&D going on within UCL, and overly-reliant on the efforts of a few entrepreneurially-minded individuals.