David Maddison, managing director of West Sussex-based design and development company Maddison, has made a powerful appeal for universities involved in technology transfer to team up with private sector Industrial Designers.
"Design thinkers offer universities a helping hand in convincing investors," he says in the latest issue of Innoventique, the free online magazine for entrepreneurs, innovators and investors.
The designer-in-residence at Manchester University also reveals that all the work he did with Isis (Oxford University's commercialisation arm) was aimed at raising capital.
Although Maddison has worked in product design and development commercialisation for 30 years - much of his work is directly related to new science that has been licensed or 'spun out' from the commercialisation arms of universities - he knew little about the technology transfer business in the UK until five years ago.
"We have fantastic research institutions and brilliant scientists working in wide-ranging fields," he said, emphasising how important it is to maximise this talent to the benefit of UK Plc.
In 2010, Maddison was appointed designer-in-residence at UMIP, the commercialisation arm of Manchester University. This company is at the forefront of technology transfer in the UK and on average produces three to four spin-out companies and 86 licence deals per annum.
"Industrial Designers are the 'street kids' of innovation," he said. "We know how to get things done quickly and economically, and how to challenge innovation boundaries. We have amazing connections from finance to materials and - possibly most importantly - have experience and understanding of the end-user.
Design thinking at the early stages adds to IP value and enables more technologies to succeed."