Case study
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Royal Academy of Engineering
Technology Transfer strategy training
Teaching international delegations how the UK turns academic research into companies.
By
the edio team
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1
min read
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The Royal Academy of Engineering brings international technology transfer delegations to the UK to study how this country turns academic research into companies delivering real world impact. Between 2024 and 2026 the Academy commissioned edio to produce two workshops for these visits. Each is a one-day intensive opening a week-long UK residential programme.
What we did
We designed the day to give delegations the whole system, from national policy down to what a technology transfer office actually does.
The UK landscape sits at the centre, including the five years since the independent spin-out review reshaped institutional practice. Around it we set three contrasting systems. Ireland, with centralised technology transfer and an emphasis on foreign direct investment. France, with a valorisation model built on external proof-of-concept institutions. Sweden, where professorial privilege leaves the IP with inventors rather than universities.
The practical layer covers building and recruiting high-performing technology transfer teams, and the legislation and funding that make the work possible. edio delivers alongside senior technology transfer specialists assembled for this programme.
The point is not that anyone copies the UK model. It's that we learn together about what works and what's next.
The outcome
We have delivered sessions to delegations from Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. Attendees range from senior technology transfer staff at large and small universities to Treasury and innovation ministry officials who shape the enabling legislation. They leave able to act on both levels, influencing policy upwards and working on the ground. A continuing learning community has formed around the workshops, and the teaching runs both ways. Our relationship with the Academy spans several years, including delivering tailored learning for the Enterprise Hub's scale up programme — the Shott Scale-Up Accelerator — and the Leaders in Innovation Fellowship programme.