Events Report

London Proof of Concept Funds: Proof of Concept and Commercialisation in Creative Industries

 

24th April 2008

London South Bank University

 

COG held a creative industries event on 24th April at London South Bank University. The event which was held on the 8th floor of the Keyworth Centre was planned to demonstrate how creative industries are more difficult to assess and protect but have enormous economic benefit. The event focused on how to support creative industry start-ups and the commercialisation of creative projects and encouraged attendees to participate by signing up for one of three break-out sessions undertaken to explore issues found in investing in creative projects.

 

The event, held jointly with KnowledgeLondon, provided a good opportunity for the knowledge-based community to learn more about the proof of concept process in creative industries. The objective was to illustrate how proof of concept is used creatively where IP cannot be patented. This was greatly helped by the use of three case studies illustrating three different stages of proof of concept development. The event ended with an Investor Relations discussion on the issues surrounding starting up and spinning out companies that are not considered technology based. It provided an insiders view on an investor's perspective. Focus was on how funding works with these types of projects.

 

 

The following presentations are available for download, please follow the links below:

 

Tony Greenwood: 'Schumpeter meets Homer Simpson meets Catch 22 - can creative sector projects survive HEI KT and Tech Transfer?'

 

Jeremy Davenport and John Cass: 'Is the creative industries business model different?'

 

Sherree Westell: Intellectual Property: An overview of relevant IP rights

 

Claire Hodson: 'Protect and Survive - ? - an investor's perspective'

 

Michael Uwemedimo: unReal

 

Tina Valentine: FORM Luminaire

 

Jenny Tillotson: On The eScent Trail: The Story of Sensory Design & Technology

 

Paul Hayler's notes are available upon request.

 

 

The event showed a high level of interest in investing in creative industry.

 

Statistics and feedback:

  • Well attended
  • 23 delegates submitted feedback forms
  • Event rated 4.1 points out of 5 on overall quality
  • 44% of respondents indicated their expectations were fully met, 39% indicated thier expectations were partially met and the remaining indicated other

Comments made:

  • Good to know who you are. Interested in being part of the network.
  • Great to follow up this theme and focus on VC/DA and IP
  • Possibly an interesting event could be a workshop for projects to share problems and solutions faced during proof of concept and commercialisation
  • Case studies were interesting

 

Events Report

London Proof of Concept Fund: Sharing Good Practice

 

10th July 2007

University of Westminster

 
COG held its first event on 10th July at the University of Westminster.

 

Technology Transfer Officers covered by the funds congregated in the New Cavendish Street building at the University of Westminster to participate in a discussion of Proof of Concept. Cases spanned through film, virtual displays, IT, engineering and medical sciences.


The event, held jointly with KnowledgeLondon, provided a good opportunity for the knowledge-based community to share good practice. The objective was to illustrate how each of the LDA-backed Proof of Concept funds operated. This was greatly helped by the use of case studies.

 

COG was pleased with the event: it was well attended and delivered positive feedback. The group looks into the future with optimism as there is clearly a high level of interest in the Proof of Concept agenda in London's universities.

 

Statistics and feedback:

  • 66 individuals attended
  • 20 delegates submitted registration forms
  • Event rated 4.2 points out of 5 on overall quality
  • 60% of respondents indicated they were very likely to attend future events and the remaining 40% indicated they were likely to do so

Comments made:

  • Speakers were impressive with knowledge
  • Information gathered from the event was useful and highly informative
  • Case studies presented were interesting
  • Request for more case study material in regards to personal experience of both fund recipients and TTOs