How has starting a company contributed to your own development?

It has pushed me out of my comfort zone and kept me out of it for the last four and a half years, giving me more personal development than I could ever have imagined. It has really benefited my career – I was promoted to professor and my enterprise activities were a big contributor to that. I have been able to make contacts in industry all around the world, and that benefits my research hugely; it means I can focus my research on real industry problems.

What challenges did you face along the way?

It has been a rollercoaster of emotions, with fantastic highs and lows as well. I think that’s true of any start-up. There have been times when in retrospect I was too optimistic or too pessimistic. I hope now that I’ve got the right balance.

For me, another challenge was adapting from an academic mindset to an industrial one. I thought I knew what teamwork was, and I thought I knew what a deadline was, but when I started to work with industry colleagues I realised I didn’t really understand what those things were at all. Also, in academic research your product or idea has to work, but only under controlled conditions, whereas in industry it has to work under all conditions. So there’s a much greater focus on quality and provability.

What are the advantages to the University of AccelerComm’s spin-out success? 

AccelerComm and the research behind it is the subject of an impact case study for the Research Excellence Framework (REF). This is a really important contribution as the University’s REF performance will dictate the level of research funding it receives, as well as having an impact on its reputation and position in the league tables.

Our close links provide opportunities to collaborate. We have worked together on publicly funded projects, with grants from Innovate UK, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and a Knowledge Transfer Partnership. These have enabled research colleagues at the University to get involved in the company, so we get the benefit of their expertise and they benefit from greater exposure to industry.

How else does engagement with the University benefit AccelerComm?

Our association with the University brings us instant prestige. Southampton has a global reputation, so when we talk to companies around the world that reputation rubs off onto us. And, of course, the University is a source of talent we can recruit from – we’ve got a fantastic team that has come out of the University.

Does the company provide opportunities for Southampton students?

Students can benefit from placements and internships at AccelerComm, plus I still teach undergraduate and master’s students, and supervise PhD students, so I can bring my expertise and industry experience to their learning.

What’s next for AccelerComm?

Our most recent round of investment has given us a stable platform, which is allowing us to focus much more on strategy. Rather than saying yes to every customer opportunity, we are now able to carefully consider how each opportunity fits into our long term strategy. In this way, we can keep focus on the big prize of creating must-have products that drive the performance of 5G across the whole industry.

What advice would you give to other academics who are thinking about commercialising their research?

At the start of this process I was worried that I would put a lot of time into enterprise activity and it might come to nothing – it seemed like a big risk. But when I reflect back on it, I realise that I was learning so much that even if it had come to nothing, that learning would have been worth it on its own. So there’s no risk at all. That’s the message I’d like to share with other academics who are thinking about engaging in enterprise but are worried about the career impact. The only career impact you can expect is positive.