Edinburgh Innovations’ new head of enterprise to drive company creation

0 John Lonsdale’s new role is to increase commercialisation The University of Edinburgh has announced a key appointment to its commercialisation services arm to help drive the creation of new enterprises.

John Lonsdale has joined Edinburgh Innovations in the recently created role of head of enterprise services.

He will lead a new team bringing together the service’s technology transfer and enterprise development activities, which include licensing the university’s intellectual property and creating start-up and spin-out companies.

The university is targeting ambitious levels of company creation, partly linked to the recently announced Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, as it is leading the £1.3 billion agreement’s Data-driven Innovation (DDI) programme.

As part of the DDI initiative, which aims to enable 400 data-centric start-up companies over 15 years, Edinburgh Innovations aims to increase company creation by students and staff, drive delivery of executive education programmes and expand university partnerships with commercial and public sector organisations.

Lonsdale joins from the University of Central Lancashire, where he was director of innovation and enterprise.

He said: “It’s exciting to join a university with such a successful history of commercialisation. The team at Edinburgh Innovations has exceptional experience and credibility in the enterprise and tech transfer ecosystems, and I look forward to helping increase the transformation of university ideas into benefit for society and the economy.

“Myimmediategoalsinclude seeking new potential across academic disciplines and venture types, expanding the intellectual property portfolio and aligning our priorities with those of the DDI programme.”