Isis Enterprise shares best practice with Latin American innovators
21st December 2015
45 innovators from Mexico, Brazil, and Chile spent two weeks in London in December, learning the business of innovation from Isis Enterprise (IE).
The visit was part of the Royal Academy of Engineers’ Leaders in Innovation Fellowships programme, which aims to increase research and innovation capacity in emerging economies.
Experts from Isis Enterprise, part of the University of Oxford’s technology commercialisation company, Oxford University Innovation, provided training in business modelling, leadership, finance, Intellectual Property, and regulation, and coaching fellows on how to present their technologies and pitch to investors. The aim was to help them develop business propositions for their innovations.
Fellows visited London for an intensive two weeks of training and individual coaching.
The visit followed a highly successful first round of the programme earlier in 2015, when 148 researchers and innovators from eight Newton Fund partner countries visited Oxford, Cambridge and London.
Mentoring is a core part of the programme: delegates continue to receive coaching support when they return home.
The training took place in East London, close to ‘tech city’, London’s hub for start-ups.
About the programme
The Royal Academy of Engineering is a delivery partner of the UK Government’s Newton Fund, which is part of the UK’s official overseas development assistance (ODA), and aims to develop international science and innovation partnerships that promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries.
The primary objective of the Leaders in Innovation Fellowships is to build the capacity of researchers for entrepreneurship and commercialisation of their research within a number of partner countries of the Newton Fund. The programme is aimed at researchers who are at the point of developing a business proposition for their innovation.
In February, 2015, Isis Enterprise helped deliver the first tranche of the programme. To date, researchers from that programme have made considerable progress with their technologies.
Next February, cohorts from India, Turkey, the Philippines, Colombia, Egypt, South Africa, Vietnam, and Thailand will be taking part in the programme.
What the fellows are saying:
On the case studies:
“The case was amazing, and it was quite similar to my own experience. It exceeded my expectations by far!”
“The whole example of a case of application was an enlightenment.”
“[We learnt how to] think as entrepreneurs”.
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