St Andrews Innovation

Eden Estuary and Former Paper Mill

Author Jim Bain Licence  CC BY-SA 2.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

It has been years since I graduated from St Andrews, but the University is still capable of teaching me something new and useful.  Yesterday, I learned a lot about enterprise, innovation and inclusion at a Connect-Ed Network Meet Up on Engaging and Supporting Female Founders in the Cathedral Room at Walter Bower House on St Andrews's new Eden Campus.

The meet-up began with a buffet lunch at 13:00.  I got to meet the Chair, Bonnie Hacking. Programme Manager, Entrepreneurship Centre, two of the speakers, Niki McKenzie, Joint Managing Director at Archangel Investors Limited, and product designer, Kat Pohorecka, who is also an associate at Edinburgh Innovations, and many of the attendees, before the formal proceedings.  The third speaker was a remarkable recent graduate called Simone Korsgaard Jensen, who joined us by video link from California. She is founder and CEO of a company called Stealth, which LinkedIn describes as "building an AI cancer doctor that personalises treatment."  She has already raised considerable investment for that company through making a prodigious number of pitches.  

As I had recently published Tips for Pitching to Business Angels in NIPC Cymru, following my experience as a pitchee,  I asked Simone how she selected her investors and how she prepared her pitches.  Angels and private equity investors in this country tend to specialize geographically and in fields of investment, so a scatter gun approach would just not work.  Ms Jensen mentioned her methodology, which involved making spreadsheets.  It was also apparent that raising capital in America is quite different from fundraising here.

After a refreshment break, the audience and speakers split into small groups around several tables.  We were provided with felt-tip pens, a large sheet of paper and a question on ways of encouraging female enterprise. I particularly enjoyed that exercise.   We started by introducing ourselves, analysing the question and swapping suggested answers.   It was exciting to watch how one bright idea would inspire another. We were allowed 7 minutes for each question, after which we each joined a different group at a different table.  For example, someone in my group suggested a lexicon of terms of art, which led to the suggestion of just using plain English.  The experience evoked memories of undergraduate seminars and tutorials many decades ago.

At the end of the session, Bonnie Hacking gave us a brief tour of the Eden Campus.   The site had been a paper mill when I was at St Andrews. Paper making is a smelly business, and malodorous fumes wafted over the North Haugh and occasionally even into town when the wind was in the wrong direction. Bonnie told us that paper making ceased early in this century and that the University acquired the site in 2008 to provide office space for its administrative staff and lab and manufacturing space for spin-off businesses. There were already several spin-offs on campus as well as Eden Mill distillery.

Bonnie took us into the rapid prototyping centre and showed us the 3D printing and other machines, some of which were making articles.  She also mentioned some of the other facilities on campus.   A good idea of the services for startups and other spinoff companies can be obtained from the St Andrews Innovation website. Some of the investment possibilities can be found on the IP Licensing portal,

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message through my contact page at any time.