The Role and Department
Durham University is lead partner for Northern Accelerator, an ambitious research commercialisation initiative involving Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Teesside and York Universities. The core delivery team are based in Durham's Research and Innovation Services (RIS) department, which provides guidance, expert advice and hands-on support for all aspects of research and research-related work, including undertaking knowledge exchange, demonstrating impact, and commercialising outputs.
provides support that accelerates and enhances commercialisation and knowledge exchange outcomes (specifically including spinout creation), that are based on research undertaken at our partner universities. It has helped deliver a step-change in spinout activity - in support of individual institutional strategies as well as the local strategic economic plans of the relevant Combined authorities and the Government's UK Innovation Strategy. We have secured funding from Research England's CCF-RED Fund to pilot a range of activity that complements and enhances Northern Accelerator's established offer. We are looking for a Network Development Manager to take responsibility for delivering key elements of this activity, engaging with partners and wider stakeholder networks to:
* Support the recruitment of experienced entrepreneurs to our 'Executives into Business' candidate pool, promoting the opportunity through engagement with targeted sector and entrepreneurial business networks and maintaining engagement with registrants;
* Facilitate spinout networking for executives and founding academics of partner university spinouts providing opportunities for peer engagement and support;
* Collate and curate a network of contacts in support of programme delivery (e.g. expert panellists), broader commercialisation activity (e.g. specialist consultancy), and to aid spinouts' access to specialist professional services support (e.g. accountants/tax advisors); and
* Support Northern Accelerator engagement with target clusters and sector bodies, the wider innovation ecosystem and university commercialisation communities.
The role holder will work as a key member of a small delivery team that engages with colleagues from across the university partnership. There will be scope for flexible and hybrid working arrangements to be agreed.
Please note that this role is being advertised as a fixed term position, aligning with the end of our current CCF-RED funded pilot project. If it proves successful our intention is to seek to secure funding to continue these network activities, alongside other elements of the Northern Accelerator model.
Further information about the role and the responsibilities is at the bottom of this job description.