VFT-1 Pre verification 2014

Purpose and goal

To streamline the commercial utilization of knowledge results, with students and researchers. VFT provides incentives to help people with ideas to reduce risk in the project´s earliest phases enabling more knowledge results from academia to reach the society. Focus on an increased flow of high quality projects where: - > 4 projects will be granted VFT-2 (3) - > 4 projects will result in licensing deals or a venture creation (17) - > 10% will attract external capital within 1 year (10% +) - ´Turn-around time´, the time from idea to project exit (positive or negative) decreases (ongoing)

Results and expected effects

The VFT-1 program strengthens incentives for measurement of important indicators that ultimately builds the basis for measuring performance of resources allocated valorization. The year has proven very positive with a continued strong flow of ideas, 119 registered cases and many more meetings with researchers and students. We have granted 65 VFT applications to an average value of 54 829 SEK. During the year we have had two licensing deals, 15 venture creations and 10 projects applying for VFT-2 (3 granted). Student projects have increased to 7 compared with only a few previously.

Approach and implementation

The process demands high response rate during the application phase as well as in the implementation phase, where our flexible process facilitates a high flow. The student/researcher is strongly supported by business coaches and devotion is crucial for progress. Efforts to streamline the process, skills development and the use of our database enable us to support more projects whilst the resources have remained on the same level. We have also worked to shorten the iterations by working with balancing risks and opportunities in a step by step process.