Riam Kanso

… who has, since 2017 been pioneering a new and better way to realise value for many from the research of PhD students. Having a PhD herself, she knew the ‘customer’ view, but she learned more when asked to help commercialise cutting edge PhD research at UCL Engineering. PhDs have been traditionally overlooked in the field of research commercialisation, with a lot more support available to later-stage academics. However, they tend to have favourable IP ownership laws in many universities. So working in UCL and supported by another Mountaineer, Steven Roberts and Barclays Eagle Labs, they held their first selection round, found some good prospects and off they went, learning how to help PhD scientists become successful deep tech entrepreneurs.  It’s working! By 2024, partnering with 50+ universities across more than 400 projects since the start, with 125 companies created,  investor relationships built and one exit achieved. The Conception X team coined the term 'Venture Scientist'; which is now being adopted and used widely.  The model works, pioneering has been achieved… and there’s so much more potential still to realise.