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PROOF OF PRINCIPLE FUNDING CASE STUDY: AN INTERVIEW WITH DR MICHAEL INGLESON Dr Ingleson met with one of UMIP's Commercialisation Executives who assessed the patentability and commercial potential of the methodology for use in the Organic LED (OLED) market and UMIP Proof-of Principle (PoP) Funding enabled further strengthening of the patent and the investigation and development of possible commercial routes into that market. This led to a collaborative project with a leading global organic electronics company. We met with Dr Michael Ingleson from the School of Chemistry to find out more about how UMIP Proof-of-Principle (PoP) funding has helped him to add value to the commercial potential of the novel methodology he has developed for the synthesis of a wide range of industrially important boronate esters. Boronate esters are used extensively by the fine chemical, organic electronic, pharmaceutical and agrochemicals industries, predominantly in carbon-carbon bond forming reactions where they are the preferred feedstock to 'stick together' two halves of a molecule. Typical applications would include in the synthesis of fungicides, pharmaceutical compounds and organic LEDs for use in displays. Despite the immense importance of boronate esters to these industries a simple, robust and inexpensive method of synthesizing the desired wide range of boronate ester starting materials does not exist. The new Manchester developed methodology enables the synthesis of a range of important boronates which are not readily accessible using traditional approaches, creating novel compounds with improved properties. In addition to this, UMI3 project manager, Dr Laura Etchells, assisted in identifying the commercial potential within the fine chemical company sector and in November, Clare Wood, UMIP Licensing Manager, secured a non-exclusive licence with a specialist contract manufacturer based in the UK. The company will synthesize two specific compounds under a short term licence for onward sale to a leading chemical supplier selling a wide variety of research reagents and materials. Dr Ingleson comments: "Without UMIP PoP funding these industrial collaborations would simply not have happened. Furthermore, research funded by the PoP assisted in developing our understanding of this methodology to a level where a second generation process could be developed. This improved process is both more economical and has wider scope." Please see our IP Awareness Resource at www.manchester.ac.uk/ipresource for a valuable insight into the types of IP which can be used to protect novel ideas/inventions along with a series of guides and booklets which you may find useful. Download the following guides and booklets from www.umip.com A Guide to UMIP Case Studies of Licensing Case Studies of Spin-outs 8 Years of Positive Impact IP & Confidentiality Spin-out Companies Licensing IP Workbook Academic Materials and Publishing Hard copies available from: sarah.harris@umi3.com 9