Padang (ANTARA) - The rector of Andalas University (Unand), Efa Yonnedi, has said that setting up "spinouts" company for commercializing university's research results has posed a challenge so far."We don't yet have a single company resulting from a spinout of research conducted by Unand lecturers," Yonnedi highlighted here on Tuesday.
A spinout company is formed to commercialize products, services, or technologies developed through academic/university research. Though the university has not set up a spinout yet, a number of Unand lecturers' research results have been downstreamed by other companies and they have received royalties for the same, Yonnedi said.
He cited the example of the ink used in the 2024 general election, which was developed through research and being used during the elections.
"Out of thousands of campus patent research, we have not succeeded in carrying out a spinout to create a profitable company," he said.
The former World Bank consultant informed that one of the leading universities in the United Kingdom could create up to 10 spinouts a year based on academic research.
"The UK started it 30 years ago. (Universities) in that country take an average of around six to 12 months to spinout a research result into a commercial one," he said.
This spinout rate has been achieved because the ecosystem in the UK has been long established. Researchers, founders, and investors have joined together at one university on an ongoing basis.
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Therefore, when there is potential and commercial research, founders, investors, and researchers quickly create prototypes and successfully market the goods in just six months to one year.
"So, this is our challenge to think more academically in the future and to advance research. It means that this spinout must generate a profit," he said.
