UoMIF has met or exceeded several key performance targets, reinforcing its commitment to fostering innovation in 91ֱ�� and supporting the commercialisation of cutting-edge research to benefit society.

Innovation Factory is The University of Manchester’s commercialisation arm, dedicated to translating research into commercial opportunities while working closely with academics, industry partners and investors to create and support spinout companies and license cutting-edge technologies.

Over the past year, UoMIF successfully launched seven new spinout companies which span a diverse range of sectors, showcasing the breadth of innovative research emerging from The University of Manchester. These include: Haliogen Power Limited, Plant Organelle Technologies Limited, Oncodrug Limited, VariantValidator Limited, CASA Space Technologies Limited, Kavarney Limited – with CGSkin recently acquired by Skin Diary Limited as well.

In addition to success in setting up spinouts, UoMIF secured £2.3million in licensing income. Future growth in this space looks positive too, with ongoing negotiations and potential deals progressing.

UoMIF has also secured £9.2million in first investments for new University spinouts, significantly exceeding its target of £5million. This success reflects the growth of investor confidence in high-potential technologies developed within the University.

Commenting on the year-end results, Catherine Headley, CEO of the University of Manchester Innovation Factory, said: "This year’s performance is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our team and the remarkable talent within The University of Manchester.

“The successful launch of seven new spinouts and the exceptional level of investment secured are clear indicators that our innovation ecosystem is thriving. While there is room for growth in our licensing income, we are confident that the foundations laid this year will lead to significant future opportunities. We remain committed to supporting our researchers in transforming their groundbreaking ideas into impactful, real-world solutions."

Luke Georghiou, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said: “The Innovation Factory plays a crucial role in transforming our academic breakthroughs into tangible societal benefits. The success of this year’s spinouts and the remarkable level of investment secured are clear evidence of the impact the Innovation Factory is having.

“These results demonstrate the University’s continued commitment to driving technology and entrepreneurship and it highlights the vital place that 91ֱ�� has in leading the world’s innovations. I commend the entire team at UoMIF for their outstanding achievements this year ensuring that The University of Manchester remains at the forefront of research commercialisation.”

This strategic partnership marks a significant milestone for the brands in their pursuit of dermatological research advancement and skincare innovation.  will be launching the first of the CGSkin products, Night Repair Therapy on 25 October 2024. Night Repair Therapy is a true innovation designed to regenerate and rebuild collagen and elastin in prematurely aged skin without irritation.

Founded in 2023 by leading researchers in skin ageing, The Skin Diary is modernising skincare through its innovative product Chapters. The Skin Diary offers prescription-grade skincare routines that leverage skin cycling to deliver optimal outcomes to patients while minimising irritation. 

CGSkin, a University of Manchester spinout, is built on a decade of rigorous research and collaboration between the University and eminent dermatologists Dr Tamara Griffiths and Professor Chris Griffiths. Their suite of anti-ageing products has undergone exhaustive testing to the highest standards, including unprecedented human skin biopsy studies. 

With the acquisition of CGSkin, The Skin Diary is set apart from other skincare brands due to its academic lineage and the expertise of its founders. Professor Chris Griffiths is a distinguished figure in skin research; his seminal research on topical retinoids has made a huge impact on the field of skin ageing. Dr Tamara Griffiths brings invaluable aesthetic science expertise to the partnership.

Only 8.6% of the skincare market is dispensed by physicians, and Chapters provides patients with a fully personalised profile with continuous access to dermatologists through their Skin Diary portal.

Catherine Headley, CEO of the said: “This acquisition exemplifies the spirit of innovation, something that is part of the foundation of The University of Manchester.  Impact like this doesn’t happen overnight; it can be many years in the making. Everyone at the Innovation Factory is proud to see Professor and Dr Griffiths and their research welcomed into The Skin Diary family and we are honoured to have been able to support them on their journey.”

“The acquisition of CGSkin by The Skin Diary is a testament to our dedication to providing patients with the most effective and innovative skincare solutions,” said Dr Clare Kiely, Chief Medical Officer of the Skin Diary.  “We are excited to integrate CGSkin’s ground-breaking products into our portfolio, furthering our mission to empower individuals with access to advanced anti-ageing treatments.”

Skincare is the leading sector in a thriving beauty market, accounting for 40% in .  Growing awareness of physician-dispensed cosmeceuticals means there is increasing demand for prescription-grade skincare options too.

To find out more about The Skin Diary, visit .

The recognition follows on from the publication of the in November 2023, which highlighted the pivotal role UK universities play in driving economic growth and societal impact through the commercialisation of intellectual property developed from university-based research.

The 2023 review outlined recommendations for building a world-leading innovation ecosystem in the UK. In response, The University of Manchester has committed to aligning its spinout practices with these recommendations, reinforcing its dedication to supporting innovation.

Luke Georghiou, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at The University of Manchester, and the institution’s lead for innovation, said: "The University of Manchester has been and remains committed to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship within our faculties and among our students. By adopting the recommendations from the Independent Review, we are aligning our practices with national goals to create a world-class innovation ecosystem.”

The is the commercialisation arm of The University of Manchester, dedicated to transforming world-class research into commercial ventures that have a positive impact on society.

The Innovation Factory collaborates with academics, industry partners, and investors to develop and support spinout companies, license cutting-edge technologies and drive innovation across various sectors.

The UKRI announcement is available .

Leading investors and universities have come together to launch the USIT Guide which aims to put rocket boosters under the way that the Higher Education sector spins out new companies that take advantage of research breakthroughs.

Many of this country’s most successful technology firms – Solexa, Oxford Nanopore, ARM – started off life as spin-outs from a university, and the publication’s authors believe many more will now be forthcoming.

This is an area that the UK already excels in. London’s universities, for example, are more efficient in turning research and development expenditure into spinout companies than many others. They produce a spinout for every £35.35 million invested in research and development compared with £60.42 million, £42.6 million and £54.5 million for Boston, Los Angeles and New York, respectively.

Between them the group behind the new guidance – which includes venture capitalist firms Abingworth, Sofinnova and Cambridge Investment Capital, and universities Oxford, Imperial and UCL – has helped set up 376 new companies in the last five years, raising over £8.6 billion in investment.

But the USIT Guide’s backers believe it can build on this success and allow both universities and venture capitalists to ramp up the whole process of setting up spin-outs by providing direction and advice in such areas as equity share and IP. As it stands, many of these deals are created from scratch, which is both inefficient and sometimes fails to learn the lessons from previous success stories.

The publication, which is supported by TenU, a group of university technology transfer offices in the UK and US, including MIT, Stanford and Columbia, reflects successful practice around the world.

Diarmuid O’Brien, Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise and chair of the USIT Guide working group, said: “The USIT Guide can unlock the full potential from UK universities research, helping to create more spin-outs faster and attracting increased venture investment. USIT can support our universities create the companies that can contribute to solving the great challenges of our time, from climate to health and the digital revolution.”

Jessica Corner, the Executive Chair of Research England, which funded the initiative, said: “The USIT Guide has come out of the deep professionalism and commitment of UK tech transfer offices to collaboration: sharing approaches internationally, and working with others – particularly investors – to make our ecosystem more effective.”

Andrew Wilkinson, CEO of the University of Manchester Innovation Factory said: “TenU provides an invaluable informal platform to understand how national governments, investors and the Universities can collaborate together more effectively to ensure that the fantastic research from our world-leading institutions can create positive social, economic, and environmental impact.  Having members from the UK, the USA and mainland Europe enables us to identify the differences and similarities between the approaches we all take to IP commercialisation and dispel some of the misunderstandings about the way things are done and challenges in different geographies.”

In the past three years, the University of Manchester Innovation Factory has helped UoM academics create 32 IP-rich spinouts (9 in 2019-20, 13 in 20-21, 10 in 21-22) and has generated licensing income of £13.85M from third party non-spinout licensees.  In addition, £9.8M in first-time investment into UoM spinouts has been secured, helping to grow these 91ֱ��-born spinouts.

Research from 91ֱ�� and other UK universities promises to be the engine room of the new economy. If universities partner effectively with business and government, these spinouts will generate significant wealth throughout the north of England, creating companies, employing people and raising productivity.

With a team of 44 and drawing on the research and expertise of the University’s academics and students, the Innovation Factory assesses and scopes research with IP potential and advises startups on critical legal, investment and asset management issues as they scale up.

A copy of The USIT Guide is .

The list is in , Europe’s influential media monitor of European tech start-ups.  Backed by the Financial Times, Sifted is the leading media brand for the European start-up community.

Two of the top ten highlighted start-ups – and – have been created and nurtured within the University of Manchester Innovation Factory (UoMIF).

Sifted says: “There’s a new generation of entrepreneurs taking the European tech scene by storm.  From Madrid to Milan, Bucharest to Berlin, startup innovators are rewriting the economy’s rules and making waves across the continent. With some 98 cities producing at least one tech unicorn (so far) — Europe has created a decentralised Silicon Valley.”

Under UoMIF’s CEO Andrew Wilkinson, the technology transfer organisation has created 32 IP-rich spinout companies in the three years.

Sifted’s ‘top ten university spinouts to watch out for’ says: “Watercycle Technologies is a University of Manchester (UoM) climate tech spinout. The company has patented a filtration process that can extract lithium from sub-surface waters — which could be huge for the EV space, which needs lithium in huge quantities for making batteries. It’s also working with Cornish Lithium, which focuses on environmentally responsible lithium extraction.”

 “FOTENIX is another UoM spinout, which uses its IP-protected machine learning and 3D imaging tech to detect diseases and pests and improve harvest quality. Brexit, climate change and the Ukraine war are putting unprecedented pressure on crop yield, and we’re seeing a growing demand for tech in this space.”

Andrew Wilkinson, CEO of The University of Manchester Innovation Factory said: “It’s great that these two innovative University of Manchester spinout companies have been recognised as being among the very best European tech startups. Both these businesses are led by brilliant young entrepreneurs and have the potential to make an enormous environmental, social and economic impact in their target markets, as well as fantastic returns for their investors.”

, with its mission to enable cleaner water supplies for the world's growing demand, has developed an energy-efficient and highly versatile membrane coating based around a material called modified molybdenum disulphide (MoS₂) to create an innovative water filtration solution.  

The technology comes from research led by  and , at The University of Manchester, working in partnership with innovation experts at the University’s (GEIC).  

This team has used a two-dimensional version of MoS_2, part of which is a natural crystal with physical properties that are complementary to those of , the world’s first 2D material, originally isolated at The University of Manchester. 

Molymem and its filtration application has been awarded an investment funding package of £500,400. Among the private sector investors are , 91ֱ�� Angels and NorthInvest.

Ray Gibbs, Chairman and Director at Molymem, said this new funding would enable the company to scale up and deliver on its mission. He said: “New 2D materials for membranes are needed to improve sustainability, accessibility and tackle one of the world’s greatest problems – delivering clean fresh water for all.”

“The application of 2D advanced materials into water filtration technologies will, we are confident, help provide solutions to this critical global challenge.”   

Working with businesses and utility companies Molymem has coated a variety of membrane systems and tested the rejection of various salts and other organic molecules, such as nitrates. The performance is equal to or better than existing commercial solutions - but at much lower cost, making the Molymem system a 'greener and cheaper' option.”

Dr Mark Bissett Chief Scientific Officer (Molymem Limited), Reader in Nanomaterials, Dept. of Materials (University of Manchester) commented “It’s incredibly exciting to see our technology, which was developed here in the labs at the University of Manchester as a fundamental research project, be successfully spun out into a company and receiving this funding. Going forward I look forward to seeing our technology have real commercial impact and see our products improving sustainability in multiple industries.”

Richard Lydon, a leading filtration expert and senior advisor to Molymem explained: “Access to clean fresh water is one of the greatest problems we face in the world. Factors that impact on the availability of clean water include climate change, water quality, pollution, and population growth.

“At the same time, water and wastewater treatment plants across the world need to be upgraded to keep pace with legislation and the ever-growing demand for drinking water. This unique technology is an added value to existing membrane systems reducing particulate 'clogging' of the current filter, enabling improved life, reducing the use of chemicals and increasing flux (water flow). The Molymem platform is robust in any environment and can be tailored (through specific functionalisation of the coating) to reject target particulates such as nitrates, phosphates, PFAS/PFOS, dissolved organics, heavy metals and other pollutants, offering unique selling points to meet the needs of the water industry.”

Rajat Malhotra, Managing Partner, Wren Capital and a member of Cambridge Angels commented, “ We liked the sustainability aspect of Molymem and the strong management to apply novel technology into a significant market in need of new membranes to deal with the increasing threat of particulate pollution (especially nitrates) in the water course. We, therefore, wanted to lead a SEED funding round on behalf of Cambridge Angels who were subsequently joined by investors from 91ֱ�� Angels and NorthInvest. This first tie-up makes a strong strategic link between 91ֱ�� and Cambridge to enhance co-syndication between the investor groups and the hope of more to come.”   

David Levine, Principal of Manchester Angels said: "We're very excited to have participated in Molymem's recent raise. 91ֱ�� Angels was established specifically to fund early-stage, game-changing technologies and technology businesses and help support levelling-up for the North."

Jordan Dargue, Board Director of NorthInvest said: ''We were so impressed with the Molymem team's expertise and passion.  The technology is innovative and solves a real market problem so I was thrilled to be able to help the company access funding at this crucial stage.  What’s more, this round of investment for Molymem is a perfect example of how angel networks can collaborate to help Northern entrepreneurs access investment.  I’m so pleased for Richard and the Molymem team and look forward to seeing what the future holds. “

Notes to Editor

1) Richard Lydon is a leading figure in the filtration, separation and membrane markets and is providing valuable advice and guide the Molymem team as it embarks on its commercial journey in wider areas of the clean and deep tech market sectors.

 2) Molymem is a University of Manchester spin-out and has developed and patented a new class of novel nano-coating applied to membranes for ultra-high filtration performance. The 2D functionalised materials can be retrofitted easily to existing membranes, utilising existing infrastructure and a large installed base. The initial focus is in the demand-driven space of clean water, water reuse and species selectivity but with potential across numerous other industry sectors including air, gas cleaning and future clean energy sectors. Chosen routes to market will be via licence and royalty deals with Membrane suppliers, Original Equipment Manufacturers and System Integrators.

3) Cambridge Angels is a leading UK business angel network providing smart capital from entrepreneurs to entrepreneurs. The collaborative Cambridge-based group, actively mentors and invests in innovative teams and their ideas, equipping generations of entrepreneurs to generate returns and help realise their full potential. The group has a strong ethos of backing merit and supporting entrepreneurship. Cambridge Angels members, most of whom are successful entrepreneurs, invest in a wide range of start-up and scale-up businesses with a particular focus on deep-tech, and tools and technologies supporting healthcare.

The study of the patients tested by either PET brain imaging or amyloid deposits in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) aims to identify a blood test which could help with earlier diagnosis of the disease.

Certain blood biomarkers of amyloid- (Total, A40 and A42), aggregated α-synuclein, aggregated Tau (Total and pTAU (181), NFL and DJ-1 have been associated with Alzheimer’s Disease pathology.

The study is to evaluate the relationship of all these aggregated forms of biomarkers, including oligomers in the blood, to historical PET scan and CSF findings.

Launched this month (October 2022), participants of the study will be aged 50 to 80, who have had an Amyloid PET scan or CSF Amyloid assessment in the last five years that diagnosed the disease.

Dr Farid Khan, CEO at PharmaKure said: “Every three seconds someone in the world develops dementia. 850,000 in the UK and 44 million worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia related illnesses and this takes a terrible toll on patients and their families.

“The current annual societal and economic cost of dementia is estimated as$1 trillion, an amount that is expected to double by 2030 unless we find a way to slow the disease.

“Our hope is this study may lead to a blood test which could help with earlier diagnosis of this disease.

“That could lead to better health outcomes, lower health system costs and improved quality of life of patients by offering treatments earlier.”

Professor Andrew Doig of The University of manchester and co-founder of PharmaKure said: “Blood tests give further understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease pathology and an insight into formulating strategies for improving clinical outcomes by selecting future treatments that are tailored to the right patient group.

“In the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease, it is not clear whether blood biomarkers are associated with brain imaging scans or amyloid in the CSF.  This study could enable us to learn how to get early warning signs of cognitive decline in blood.”

Alzheimer's disease is a fatal illness that causes progressive decline in memory and other aspects of cognition. It is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60 to 80 percent of all cases.

In 2020, the total cost of cost of care for people with dementia in the UK was £34.7 billion. Globally, the cost was $360 billion and by 2050 the costs could be a $1 trillion according to Alzheimer’s Research UK.

In the US alone, there was an increase of 8 million new caregivers from 2015 to 2020.