Universities must bring industry and venture capital onto campus to become more resilient says Stoic VC

UNIVERSITIES must bring more corporations and venture capital investors onto campus and reduce their reliance on governments and overseas students if they are to have more resilient revenues.

Stoic Venture Capital Partner Geoff Waring said there was an over-reliance on government grants and overseas students’ fees to fund Australian universities’ research activities.

Universities should trade their vast intellectual property for equity in companies commercialising their research and pave stronger links with industry who can find uses for their research, he said.

“Government and philanthropic grants fund basic research and academic publications but venture capital finances the next step of forming a company to prove the concept in the field,” Dr Waring said.

“More resilient universities work with seed venture capital to finance start-ups in sectors such as health sciences, renewables or agritech where Australia has an international competitive advantage. The pandemic has demonstrated how important Australia’s focus on home-grown medical and biotechnology solutions is.”

Once their valuable intellectual property is secured and matched to an unmet need, universities can let specialist venture capital managers take it to the next level.

“Building stronger connections with seed venture capital investors and industry through partnerships like the Cooperative Research Centres could better align research priorities to solving the unmet needs in our society,” Dr Waring said.

“This collaboration with industry helps university research translate into new start-ups that are developing critical new drugs, devices, vaccines and other important innovations.”

Dr Waring said Stoic Venture Capital was one of the few venture capital funds in Australia that focused on start-ups coming out of university research.

“Stoic Venture Capital is committed to financing translational research. We want to encourage medical and other applied science or engineering researchers to go beyond publishing their research.”

 

About Stoic Venture Capital

Stoic Venture Capital provides financing for early-stage companies, particularly those arising from university research. Stoic is unconditionally registered as an Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP). It takes a collaborative approach to investing in the highest potential companies. www.stoicvc.com.au

 

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