A clear mission
The eight universities in the Midlands Innovation partnership collectively boast world-leading R&D resources across several sectors, with a wealth of science parks, incubators, and strong industry links. The partnership is therefore well positioned to translate cutting-edge research and innovation into real-world commercial applications.
MICRA (Midlands Innovation Commercialisation of Research Accelerator) is a dynamic initiative that emerged in 2018. It united eight Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) across the partnership, creating the largest formal collaboration of its kind in the UK. MICRA was established with a clear mission: to strengthen the spinout and start-up ecosystem by accelerating innovations from university research to the market.
How did MICRA support start-up companies?
MICRA provided crucial support to spin-out companies and potential investors through the following key initiatives:
- Collective Engagement: By pooling resources, MICRA facilitated business engagement, Intellectual Property (IP) creation, IP development, and incubation. This collaborative approach amplified the impact of individual efforts.
- Expert IP Guidance: Intellectual Property Case Managers with specialised sector knowledge guided start-ups through the IP landscape, ensuring effective protection and utilisation of their innovations.
- Investor Access: MICRA connected start-ups to a shared pool of potential investors.
- Community Building: MICRA fostered a supportive community of like-minded entrepreneurs. Start-ups benefited from targeted incubation support and valuable networking opportunities.
- Scalable Investment Pipeline: By creating a collaborative investment pipeline, MICRA facilitated access to long-term funding. Investors found a streamlined route to promising opportunities.
A lasting legacy
Through its strategic efforts, MICRA significantly enhanced the Midlands Innovation partner ecosystem. MICRA’s impact contributed to:
- Patent Leadership: MICRA universities outperform other major UK university groups in patents generated per unit of research income.
- Spinout Success: Many successful spinouts emerged over the course of the project, fuelled by a collective annual research investment of £550 million.
- Strengthening the regional Ecosystem: These spinouts formed the core of a regional pipeline, connecting over 2,000 start-ups and affiliated businesses.
Building on this collaborative approach, MICRA also laid the groundwork for Midlands Mindforge, a patient capital investment company established by MI partners in 2023.
Of the spin-outs supported by MICRA, many have gone on to develop into successful established businesses. Examples include:
- Added Scientific, specialists in material jetting, binder jetting and photocurable 3D printing research and development for vendors and end users
- NuVision Biotherapies, a regenerative medicine company spun out the University of Nottingham
- Eyoto, Provider of advanced solutions for worldwide ocular health
- Verdel Instruments, a company devoted to bringing multi-dimensional mass spectrometry to time of flight mass spectrometers
- Patchs Health, a company dedicated to improving the delivery of healthcare through the application of innovative technology and cutting-edge AI
- Aston Vision Sciences, an innovative creator of technically advanced solutions for the ophthalmology eyecare market
- Footfalls and Heartbeats, a company specialising in capturing data from fabrics
- Previsico, Developers of a flood intelligence platform
Read more about the spin-out and start-up sector and MI partner achievements in this report commissioned by MICRA and produced by Beauhurst.
