Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town
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10 Years Ago
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Ten years ago, to the day, I left my full-time job in Oxford after 16 years. It had been an amazing experience, full of successes, but the tide was beginning to turn; I had had enough; and so had they.
I did not know what the future held but knew I wanted to continue working in the university technology transfer area, as an adviser, consultant, and not full-time. This note outlines how the ten years have played out.
I took a few months off; completely, totally, off; good idea.
Then, I viewed myself as a start-up and did what start-ups do. I chose a name (Technology Transfer Innovation), opened a bank account, found an accountant (Richardsons), built a website (on Weebly www.technolgytransferinnovation.com), got a new email address ([email protected]), bought a laptop (Apple of course), developed a business plan and built a projects database. I designed some business cards (printed by Moo).
The business plan has never exceeded one-page and is built on the Purpose-Objectives-Strategy-Tactics model. At the top of the Objectives, it says Zero Stress and Zero Growth. I had had enough stress in my full-time job, and I did not want to manage any staff. I review my business plan from time to time; these two Objectives have not changed. The projects database is an excel spreadsheet with a list of prospects, list of projects, expenses and invoicing schedule.
In 2017, after the proof-of-concept phase, I moved from being self-employed to setting up a company that employs me (Technology Transfer Innovation Ltd).
In the early days I did a very wide range of projects, small, medium, large, mostly very satisfying, very few I regret. Over the years I have come to use two criteria for selecting projects: (a) that my expertise fits the client’s needs and I think I can actually help, and (b) that I will get on with the people.
In 2018, 2019 I wrote my book “University Technology Transfer – What It Is and How to Do It” and in 2020 it was published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It was published at the start of the Covid lockdowns, and sadly I never had a book launch party. I wanted to write down everything I knew and had learned from the Oxford years before I forgot, and to share this knowledge with everyone else, to help. It has been very well received, and translated into Spanish and Chinese.
In 2020, during Covid, I wrote some pieces on the highly impressive response of the university and TT communities to the pandemic. I continue to write pieces on wide-ranging aspects of university technology transfer and post them on LinkedIn and on my website.
In 2021, I published the first White Board article, identifying what I consider is institutional racism in the UK research funding and technology transfer scenes; this encouraged the Technology Transfer community in the UK to ask itself what it was going to do about it.
In 2022, developing the themes of diversity, inclusion and equality, I set up GEDITT – Global Equality Diversity and Inclusion in Technology Transfer – with an amazing group of people. We had some impact, and there have been some positive changes: the data in the White Board IV article shows some improvements. It seems no-one wants to talk about it very much these days, or isn’t allowed to; dictatorships are scary.
In 2024, I started some conversations about developing a Masters in TT at a University in the UK; everyone agrees it’s a great idea, although we haven’t found the University willing to take it on yet. I hope it happens one day; as someone said recently, it’s a no-brainer.
Also in 2024, I turned 60, reviewed what it was all about and decided to continue, more or less than same, just older. At this time I saw a quotation from the author Richard Powers: “There’s no-one who I still need to prove anything to – I feel a kind of satisfaction in what I’ve accomplished”, and thought, yes.
In 2025 I wrote an Innovation Glossary with 400 words and phrases to help Researchers understand the jargon they encounter in the worlds of research commercialisation, intellectual property, investors, business planning etc. It is now available as B-version from the Catalan AGAUR, in Catalan and English.
Now, 10 years after leaving full-time employment, I am reviewing all of these activities again and am deciding to continue, more or less the same, just older. I find myself doing more gardening, drawing and painting classes, seeking mellow times. I am currently working with clients in Catalonia, Japan, and South Africa (hello, and thank you). The world has become global, as George Bush said it would.
I started working in the university technology transfer area in 1989; it has grown continually in importance and complexity. Much of the world around us has changed dramatically and beyond recognition. I imagine that the growth and changes will continue.
If I have one, fundamental message from all of this, it is: keep funding the basic research, so there may be more brilliant research outputs to transfer to benefit society.
If there is one, single, personal highlight – leafing through the first printed copy of my book, in March 2020.
“You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on.” ― Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable, 1953
I did not know what the future held but knew I wanted to continue working in the university technology transfer area, as an adviser, consultant, and not full-time. This note outlines how the ten years have played out.
I took a few months off; completely, totally, off; good idea.
Then, I viewed myself as a start-up and did what start-ups do. I chose a name (Technology Transfer Innovation), opened a bank account, found an accountant (Richardsons), built a website (on Weebly www.technolgytransferinnovation.com), got a new email address ([email protected]), bought a laptop (Apple of course), developed a business plan and built a projects database. I designed some business cards (printed by Moo).
The business plan has never exceeded one-page and is built on the Purpose-Objectives-Strategy-Tactics model. At the top of the Objectives, it says Zero Stress and Zero Growth. I had had enough stress in my full-time job, and I did not want to manage any staff. I review my business plan from time to time; these two Objectives have not changed. The projects database is an excel spreadsheet with a list of prospects, list of projects, expenses and invoicing schedule.
In 2017, after the proof-of-concept phase, I moved from being self-employed to setting up a company that employs me (Technology Transfer Innovation Ltd).
In the early days I did a very wide range of projects, small, medium, large, mostly very satisfying, very few I regret. Over the years I have come to use two criteria for selecting projects: (a) that my expertise fits the client’s needs and I think I can actually help, and (b) that I will get on with the people.
In 2018, 2019 I wrote my book “University Technology Transfer – What It Is and How to Do It” and in 2020 it was published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It was published at the start of the Covid lockdowns, and sadly I never had a book launch party. I wanted to write down everything I knew and had learned from the Oxford years before I forgot, and to share this knowledge with everyone else, to help. It has been very well received, and translated into Spanish and Chinese.
In 2020, during Covid, I wrote some pieces on the highly impressive response of the university and TT communities to the pandemic. I continue to write pieces on wide-ranging aspects of university technology transfer and post them on LinkedIn and on my website.
In 2021, I published the first White Board article, identifying what I consider is institutional racism in the UK research funding and technology transfer scenes; this encouraged the Technology Transfer community in the UK to ask itself what it was going to do about it.
In 2022, developing the themes of diversity, inclusion and equality, I set up GEDITT – Global Equality Diversity and Inclusion in Technology Transfer – with an amazing group of people. We had some impact, and there have been some positive changes: the data in the White Board IV article shows some improvements. It seems no-one wants to talk about it very much these days, or isn’t allowed to; dictatorships are scary.
In 2024, I started some conversations about developing a Masters in TT at a University in the UK; everyone agrees it’s a great idea, although we haven’t found the University willing to take it on yet. I hope it happens one day; as someone said recently, it’s a no-brainer.
Also in 2024, I turned 60, reviewed what it was all about and decided to continue, more or less than same, just older. At this time I saw a quotation from the author Richard Powers: “There’s no-one who I still need to prove anything to – I feel a kind of satisfaction in what I’ve accomplished”, and thought, yes.
In 2025 I wrote an Innovation Glossary with 400 words and phrases to help Researchers understand the jargon they encounter in the worlds of research commercialisation, intellectual property, investors, business planning etc. It is now available as B-version from the Catalan AGAUR, in Catalan and English.
Now, 10 years after leaving full-time employment, I am reviewing all of these activities again and am deciding to continue, more or less the same, just older. I find myself doing more gardening, drawing and painting classes, seeking mellow times. I am currently working with clients in Catalonia, Japan, and South Africa (hello, and thank you). The world has become global, as George Bush said it would.
I started working in the university technology transfer area in 1989; it has grown continually in importance and complexity. Much of the world around us has changed dramatically and beyond recognition. I imagine that the growth and changes will continue.
If I have one, fundamental message from all of this, it is: keep funding the basic research, so there may be more brilliant research outputs to transfer to benefit society.
If there is one, single, personal highlight – leafing through the first printed copy of my book, in March 2020.
“You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on.” ― Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable, 1953