Crossing the ‘valley of death’: Interview with Martyn Buxton-Hoare

The popular view of a university researcher is probably the 'mad professor', closeted in a laboratory, whose work is punctuated with small explosions and occasional cries of 'Eureka'. While that may have once been the case, university researchers today are more in tune with the needs of industry. Martyn Buxton-Hoare, assistant director of Research and Enterprise Support at the University of Surrey, says things have changed dramatically since the introduction, some 10 years ago, of the Higher Education Innovation Fund, or HEIF; a scheme designed to encourage knowledge transfer in universities. But he believes the approach was based on a mistaken view of the value of commercialisation in US universities. "Over time, it has become apparent that commercialisation, by itself, is useful, but is not a method of funding. What has also become apparent is the activity has other benefits; including gaining research contracts and improving a university's image." Buxton-Hoare believes there is a misconception about the type of research work done in universities. "University research doesn't always result in something that can be used immediately. Taking it to the point where industry can begin to get an idea of what the benefits might be and quantifying them – even whether it fits their business – takes money. It's a 'valley of death'." One way in which Buxton-Hoare's 'valley of death' is being bridged is by the recently introduced Knowledge Transfer Account (KTA), 12 of which have been set up by the EPSRC and Surrey is running one. Surrey's KTA is getting £3.9million over three years. Says Buxton-Hoare"This has allowed us to move 30 projects forward which wouldn't have got funding from anywhere," he noted. "By spending small amounts – up to £40,000 – we can determine whether the technology is special or not, and these are sums that SMEs can't afford." Buxton-Hoare believes the KTA approach is one of the best things the EPRSC has set up. "It enables us to approach companies and ask for contributions in kind; it gets us through their doors. Their first reaction is often that we are after money; all we want is advice on what to do with a research project and how to keep it on the right track." He gave as an example a Surrey academic's development of an analytical system thought to be of use in drug discovery. "We took it to a large pharmaceutical company and the reception we got was more open because we were not asking for money. But the advice we got was invaluable; without it, we would have gone down a useful, but not groundbreaking, track. It pushed the academic to address something that was a roadblock in their process." While many companies are interested in new technologies, Buxton-Hoare said they won't be really interested unless the research addresses the bottlenecks they perceive. "Many academics know broadly what the problems are, but not the key problem. Research proves something can be done, but not what the limits of performance may be," he says. "KTAs help us to put those boundaries in place." University research is not always commercialised in the short term, however. "It took 23 years for Surrey Satellite Technology to develop significant revenue," says Buxton-Hoare. "A significant event was a five year research agreement with EADS Astrium to spend £5m on space engineering research. That allowed us to build our capacity and expertise. From a strategic point of view, that was more important than cash, allowing us to build space engineering capacity in South East England. Lots of companies are now feeding in, that's attracting Government sponsorship and we are linking with Harwell to create something larger. Without that contract, the space centre would still be relatively unknown." This new focus on working more closely with industry has changed what goes on at Surrey. "Academics are more upbeat about what's done with their technology and on seeing that it has an effect. From the university's perspective, our standing with the research councils is enhanced as a result of generating commercial success from the money they supply," he says.