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For Universities & TTOs

Scale commercialisation
without scaling burden.

PIPE complements your Technology Transfer Office: not replacing it, but extending its reach across the full portfolio of IP, so that more of your research creates measurable real world impact.

Partner as a University →Download Overview
The Challenge

The long tail of IP
requires a new approach.

Technology Transfer Offices are doing exceptional work: but they face a structural challenge: enormous portfolios, limited resource, and commercial pathways that require deep domain expertise, active operator engagement, and patient capital that the institution cannot provide alone.

The result is a long tail of promising innovations that never progress beyond early disclosure. Not because the science is weak: but because the translation infrastructure does not exist to move them forward systematically.

PIPE is that infrastructure.

83%
of university inventions never reach the market
£591B
annual impact from just 17% of university IP (AUTM)
5x
more opportunities unlocked with PIPE augmented TTOs
0
additional permanent headcount required
How PIPE Works for Universities

A structured extension
of your existing capability.

PIPE operates as an external ecosystem layer: complementing your TTO's processes, respecting your governance, and protecting your IP: whilst dramatically expanding the volume and quality of opportunities that can progress.

🔓

IP Safe Triage

Innovations are submitted without disclosing the inventive step. IP moves to a protected digital vault, allowing arms length review whilst enabling both patenting and publishing to proceed on your timeline.

✅

Rapid Go/No Go Assessment

Every project receives an empirical commercial, environmental, and societal viability assessment. your TTO can prioritise with confidence rather than gut instinct.

⚙️

Associate Led Development

PIPE Associates: experienced commercial operators: are matched to validated projects, bringing deep domain expertise to build the commercial pathway alongside your researchers.

💰

Aligned Capital Access

Projects that pass validation can access up to €2m in initial funding through the PIPE gDAO and PGF Launchpad: with no upper limit on subsequent rounds through PIPExchange.

📈

Impact Metrics & Reporting

PIPE provides structured, auditable documentation of translational activity: strengthening your REF impact case and stakeholder reporting with immutable progress records.

🔄

Repeatable at Scale

Unlike one off advisory engagements, the PIPE QED system creates a standardised, repeatable process across all disciplines and faculties, building institutional capability over time.

Benefits

What partnership with PIPE
delivers for your institution.

✓
Expand commercial outcomes across a broader portfolio of IP, including the long tail that cannot be prioritised by internal resource alone
✓
Add significant commercial capacity without permanent headcount or fixed overhead commitments to the institution
✓
Improve the quality and readiness of opportunities entering investor conversations, reducing wasted time on poorly structured pitches
✓
Strengthen REF impact pathways and knowledge exchange metrics with structured, auditable evidence of translational activity
✓
Provide researchers with a supported, structured pathway: improving researcher experience and reducing attrition from the commercial process
✓
Create repeatable translational pathways across all faculties: not just flagship or star projects
✓
Access a curated network of commercially experienced operators and patient investors aligned to early stage university innovation
GOVERNANCE ASSURANCE

Built to work within your framework.

PIPE is designed from the ground up to be compatible with university IP protection requirements, publication timelines, and governance structures.

Innovations are never publicly disclosed during the assessment process. The inventive step remains protected throughout, and no commercial engagement occurs without explicit institutional sign off.

PIPE operates as a structured extension of your TTO: not a replacement, a competitor, or a bypass of your existing processes.

The Process

How a university partnership
works in practice.

1

Initial Discussion & Fit Assessment

We begin with a confidential conversation to understand your portfolio, existing processes, and commercialisation objectives, and to confirm that PIPE is the right fit for your institution.

2

Partnership Agreement & Integration Design

We agree the terms of collaboration, including IP ownership, revenue sharing, governance, and how PIPE integrates with your TTO processes: before any innovation is disclosed.

3

Innovation Disclosure & Triage

Researchers submit innovations through the PIPE platform. Each submission is assessed for commercial, environmental, and societal viability within a defined timeframe, producing a structured Go/No Go report.

4

Evaluation & Pathway Definition

Validated innovations progress to formal evaluation: market analysis, use case definition, competitive framing, and route to commercialisation planning, producing an investment ready dossier.

5

Associate Matching & Venture Development

PIPE Associates are matched to projects, bringing domain, technical, and commercial expertise to form the venture, structure IP, build the team, and prepare for capital deployment.

6

Funding, Launch & PIPExchange

Validated, Associate backed ventures access PIPE investor capital: with onward progression to PIPExchange listing and, ultimately, IPO. The institution retains agreed equity and licence value throughout.

Where to start

Two services. One conversation to begin.

Whether you want to understand your institution's specific IP pipeline performance first, or whether you want to explore what a broader partnership with PIPE would look like, there is a clear starting point for both. The Index Briefing is free and carries no commitment to proceed.

For TTOs and DVCs

IP Pipeline Diagnostic

A structured, data-led engagement that identifies precisely where commercially viable research is being lost in your institution's pipeline. Five phases across three to four weeks. Starts with a free 90-minute Index Briefing using your institution's specific PIPE Index profile. Built against the four Hickson principles. HEIF-eligible.

  • Pipeline visibility survey across 4 to 6 departments
  • On-site structural friction audit with senior stakeholders
  • Peer-group benchmark gap analysis with improvement scenarios
  • Prioritised action plan with index-linked targets
See the IP Pipeline Diagnostic ↗
For TTO Teams

TTO Support Services

A broader overview of how PIPE works alongside TTO and Knowledge Exchange teams across the full commercialisation lifecycle. From Napkin Ideas pre-disclosure through QED validation, PIPE General Fund investment, and PIPExchange listing. PIPE does not compete with your TTO. It extends it.

  • Napkin Ideas: low-friction pre-disclosure channel
  • QED validation and PIPE Associate Network
  • PIPE General Fund: patient seed capital for validated ventures
  • PIPExchange: regulated listing pathway for university spinouts
TTO Support Overview ↗

Ready to extend your
commercialisation reach?

Start a confidential conversation with the PIPE team to explore how we can complement your TTO and unlock more of your institution's IP portfolio.

Partner as a University →Download the PIPE Overview