Times Higher Education

Learn about the journey from academic researcher to entrepreneur and what it takes to launch a successful spin out company. Academics are specialists in their disciplines and research areas but very few have any expertise in running a business. So, while their discoveries may hold commercial potential, it is rarely a simple or easy process translating this knowledge into a saleable product or service. To demystify the process of research commercialisation, on this episode we hear from a US-based biomedical researcher who has launched and grown five spin-out companies over the last 25 years. Ashutosh Chilkoti is the Alan L. Kaganov Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and the brains behind companies including PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Sentilus and Insolere Bio. He runs the Chilkoti research group and has driven a number of initiatives at Duke designed to support entrepreneurship among students and staff. As well as describing his own varied start-up experien