What does your role as Chief Technology Officer involve?

I get my hands dirty doing work on the software side of the company, but I also focus on AccelerComm’s technology strategy, setting the future direction and building roadmaps for the capabilities, performance and features we want to have in our products. I’m heavily involved in investment raising as part of the pitching team, and I represent the company at conferences and trade shows.

I still work at the University too, spending one day a week in my academic role.

Why did you choose to take the commercial route?

I have an inherent interest in doing research that has impact, and starting a company is an effective way to get research out into the real world. Also, in the last decade there has been a growing government focus on impact; universities’ research funding levels are based on measures of impact. This shift happened at a formative stage in my career, so it’s something I’ve really taken on board.

What is the enterprise environment like at Southampton?

It’s very conducive. The University’s Research and Innovation Services (RIS) has lots of experience of generating spin-out companies. There is an on-campus new business accelerator, Future Worlds, and the University is a partner in the SETsquared start-up programme. In addition, the academic appraisal process recognises and rewards contributions to enterprise.

My department, Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), has lots of links with industry, which allows us to have discussions about how our research could solve problems in real life, with the people who really know. In ECS there is also a research group, the IT Innovation Centre, that is dedicated to bringing research closer to practice.