A step-by-step guide to commercialising your research

From Google to the MRI machine, universities have a long history of developing world-changing products and companies. In the UK, investment in university spin-out companies totalled £3.4 billion in 2024, a rise of 44 per cent year-on-year – yet this is dwarfed by the billions invested in US university start-ups annually, which stood at $39.3 billion (£29.4 billion) back in 2021. Beyond the hard cash, successful academic-founded companies create thousands of jobs and translate research into real-world impact.

But for the researcher who thinks their work could have commercial value, how should they begin the journey from academic to CEO? In this guide, experts all over the world take you through the steps involved, from judging your work’s commercial potential and finding on-campus support from intellectual property and technology transfer experts to securing investment, writing a business plan and identifying and reaching your target market. Learn about the different routes to commercialisation from others who have made the journey from the laboratory to the boardroom.

Laying the groundwork for commercialisation

From investigating the commercial potential of your work to corporate engagement, these resources explore how to lay strong foundations for commercialisation. Plus, how building an entrepreneurial culture supports academics – and students – to more readily pursue commercial opportunities.

Bridging the academic-commercial divide: a practical guide for university researchers: Industry collaborations demand thoughtful planning and engagement that extend beyond the bench to achieve the real-world impact that universities and researchers hope their discoveries will generate. Mary Albertson and Kashmira Kulkarni of Georgia Tech explain how.

When a scientist becomes an inventor: A novel scientific discovery can catapult a researcher from the bench to being an entrepreneur. Greta Faccio shares considerations for next steps in commercialising an invention.

Fostering a start-up culture among academic staff: An environment of entrepreneurship that supports academic staff will, in turn, have a positive impact on start-up-minded students. Here, the University of Arts London’s Gavin Clark outlines five approaches.

Working with your university’s technology transfer office

Starting your commercialisation journey alone, with little idea of how to proceed, is a daunting prospect. Tap into the expertise of the staff in your university’s technology transfer office, who can guide you through the vital early stages. They will help judge your work’s commercial readiness, plan the steps you must take to develop your business proposition and protect your intellectual property before your discovery is made public.

Plan your route from research to market: To successfully commercialise research, first you need to understand the different routes available for taking your findings to market and how your institution can help, as Nicolas Huber of King’s College explains.

The path from ‘eureka’ to patent: Early action matters when it comes to protecting and commercialising university innovations, argues Dana Vouglitois of Florida Atlantic University. This step-by-step technology transfer process bridges the gap between lab discoveries and real-world impact.

The first step in commercialising your research: start the conversation: Your university’s commercialisation office can help start your journey from academic to CEO. Jim O’Connell of the University of Florida shows how.

Protecting your intellectual property

Protecting intellectual property (IP) is a crucial step in the commercialisation process. Leaving it until after your research has been published can mean exposing yourself to expensive lawsuits or losing out to competitors working in your field. Below, find out how to decide which kind of protection is right for your work, and how to get the timing right.

From mind to market: how young academics can approach research commercialisation: Translating research to real-world impact can be daunting for early career researchers. Here, Singapore Management University’s Tiam Lin Sze offers a road map and why early protection of intellectual property is vital, especially before publication.

When should scientists think about trademarks?: If your discovery has commercial potential, you will need to think about what to call it when it reaches the market. Greta Faccio and Marion-Sima Wossner outline three considerations about trademarks and protecting your intellectual property.

What you don’t know about IP protections – but should: From patents to trademarks and copyright, intellectual property is a vast field with financial and legal implications. So, get to know your university’s technology transfer office, says Itzel Saldivar of the University of Luxembourg.

Securing investment 

How do you attract investment? What kind of investment will you need and where can you find it? The process may seem complicated but, as Eirini Epitropaki writes: “Business is nothing more than terminology and common sense, and as a scientist myself, I learned to approach it methodically and analytically.” Find out how here.

What you need to know about securing investment for your spin out: Venture capitalists are ‘completely different beasts’ to grant bodies so academic founders need to embrace a new style of pitching if they are to secure funding for their companies, as Tim Witney of King's College London explains.

From lab to market – part one: finding investment: In the first part of this two-part series on investment and business planning for research spin-out companies by Eirini Epitropaki of Birkbeck, University of London, discover all you need to know about attracting venture capital.

Writing a business plan

Potential investors will need to understand how your venture will work, its financial viability, where in the market it will fit and how you plan to grow. Put together a clear, realistic and detailed business plan with the help of these resources.

Write a business plan for a university spin-out company: Looking to secure investment for your spin-out? Find out how to write a business plan that ticks every box. Robert Crammond of the University of the West of Scotland shows how.

From lab to market – part two: writing a business plan: Eirini Epitropaki details how to build a business plan - exactly what to include, when, and how to give your potential investors the confidence you and the plan can adapt to change. 

Understanding and reaching your market 

Who cares? That’s the question all research impact work starts with but it’s particularly relevant when assessing a potential market for your product. As Rushana Kusainova points out, “We assume that impactful work will naturally find its audience. In reality, it rarely does.” Find out how to communicate your research’s value to exactly the right audience.

Who are you selling to? A marketing guide for researchers, part 1: With research, it is not just about what you produce, but how and to whom you communicate it, writes Rushana Khusainova of the University of Bristol. Learn how to identify and understand the needs of your audience.

Who are you selling to? A marketing guide for researchers, part 2: Advice on creating a value proposition that clearly communicates the benefits of your work to different audiences.

The journey from lab to successful spin-out

Spin-outs are a high-risk approach to commercialisation but, if successful, offer high returns, financially and professionally. Here, read advice from academic founders of multimillion-pound ventures, the CEO of the University of Oxford’s technology transfer office, and a Silicon Valley expert, among others, on pioneering your own world-changing spin-out.

From lab to London Stock Exchange: six lessons for quantum tech founders who want to change the world: Deep-tech commercialisation requires different strategies from those that drive typical start-ups. Three collaborators from Lancaster University share six practical lessons from transforming quantum research into a public company with a £14.8 million valuation.

Campus Talks: What does it take to successfully commercialise research?: A technology transfer expert from the University of Oxford and biotech spin-out founder from Imperial College explain the steps involved in moving discoveries from the lab to the market.

What does the UK’s spin-out ecosystem need to thrive nationwide?: Despite their abundance of research and expertise, UK academic institutions lack mechanisms to encourage and incentivise movement between academia and industry, particularly within the spin-out community, writes the University of Nottingham’s Richard Hague.

How can we take research from the lab to the marketplace?: When getting the products of your research into the hands of the people who need them, challenges arise. Universiti Teknologi Petronas' Vorathin Epin, Ibham Veza, Mazian Mohammad and Abdul Rahim Othman offer advice on how to overcome them.

How do you leap from research lab to Silicon Valley start-up?: The good news is that times of turmoil are ideal for innovation – and far more skills are transferable from bench to IPO than you might imagine. Here are eight actions that will get your start-up off the ground, from Ben Clark of the University of Southampton.

Industry partnership as a route to commercialisation

Industry partnerships add value to academic endeavours in many ways – and vice versa. Academics can help companies develop and improve new and existing products, while the companies provide academics with a route into well-established markets. Discover how to choose industry partners and build and sustain momentum across long-term collaborations.

How to create a win-win university-industry partnership: To reap the benefits of industry-academia collaborations, researchers and higher education institutions need to be clear about goals from the outset, understand each party’s differences and communicate. Darren Fast of the University of Alberta offers advice.

Bridge the gap between knowledge and solutions with industry partnerships: Academic and industry partnerships can help both sides achieve more than they could alone. Here’s how to build a relationship for long-lasting collaboration, according to David Parker from Hong Kong Baptist University.

How to choose the right industry partners: Developing long-term, successful industry partnerships starts by choosing the right one. Andy Colley of Birkbeck, University of London, provides guidance.

Commercialisation advice for early career researchers

What if your PhD project has commercial potential? Early career researchers share lessons they learned on the route to launching a company while juggling writing deadlines and ongoing research work. 

How to turn a PhD project into a commercial venture: Transforming a doctoral research project into a commercially viable product requires astute decision-making from the start. Graide’s Manjinder Kainth  and the University of Birmingham’s Nicola Wilkin share a beginner’s guide.

What I have learned on the journey towards commercialising my PhD: University of Edinburgh engineering biologist Maggie Hicks shares what she has learned on her journey towards commercialising her PhD, with business partner and fellow PhD student Florentina Winkelmann.

How your institution could support research commercialisation

What can universities do to support their researchers’ business ventures? In these times of strained budgets, find out how to operate a shared technology transfer office, providing flexible consultancy-style support. Plus, how to encourage enterprise among early career researchers. 

A lean approach to university technology transfer: Universities can leverage selective outsourcing to build a lean, adaptive technology transfer office that enhances collaboration and responds to external funding cycles, writes Gavin Clark of the University of the Arts London.

Empower ECRs to commercialise their research: Early career researchers face many barriers when it comes to translating their research into commercial success, be they a lack of time, being overlooked in favour of more established colleagues or simply not knowing where to start. Lysimachos Zografos of the University of Edinburgh offers advice.

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