Making money is academic
Howard Lake | 19 April 1999 | News
The Guardian Higher reports on the academics who have made a fortune from applying their research commercially. Between 1996-97 223 spin-off companies were created by universities.
The Guardian Higher reports on the academics who have made a fortune from applying their research commercially. Between 1996-97 223 spin-off companies were created by universities. One estimated puts the numbers of academic millionaires created as a result of these companies at between 20 and 100. Some of these are, of course, more paper millionaires than cash-rich.
Successful commercial academics include:
Advertisement
Professor Alan Wilson, vice-chancellor of Leeds University, who received nearly £1 million from the sale of his company GMAP Ltd in 1997
Professor Peter Denyer, Edinburgh University, main shareholder of VLSI Vision plc, which sold for £23.3 million
Dr Martin Porter, Cambridge University, a founder-director of Muscat Ltd, 70% of which MAID plc bought for £8 million
Prospect researchers might be pleased to know that some of these successful academics have already begun to donate some of their wealth. Professor Ken Murray, inventor of the hepatitis vaccine, helped fund two new buildings and student scholarships. Roger Needham, formerly at Cambridge University’s computer laboratory, gave £200,000 to Wolfson College.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.