Succeed with Middlesex

We’ll offer solutions, whether through consultancy, contract research, training, CPD, degree apprenticeships or any other means, that are fit for purpose. You can expect Middlesex to be a patient, attentive listener.

We’ll point you towards funding to help you put knowledge into action. We’ll promise no more than we know we can deliver: we will never claim expertise we don’t possess, and will point you towards others that do, if necessary. 

Middlesex will be a partner in developing your long-term plans, whether that means growing the reach of your company, having your charity serve more people, or having your public sector organisation lead public provision in new ways. Think of us as a creative friend, able to suggest new approaches that will work or prompt fresh thinking about how your organisation can bend to the winds of change.

Practical support

Middlesex can work with you in a variety of practical ways.

• You can commission work from us, whether in skills development or technical development – or anything else.
• You can partner with us in new publicly funded work to aid your organisation.
• You can share in collaborative projects we coordinate, or invite us to join your own consortia.
• You can access our IP, our specialist equipment, our excellent facilities.
• You can involve us in community activities, ask us to host events, or enthuse others with the new ideas central to your organisation’s future.
• You can sponsor our projects, students or events. 

What we offer 

There are a host of ways in which you can work with Middlesex

• Collaborative research
  Use public collaborative funding from organisations like InnovateUK to conduct joint R&D projects, growing your innovation potential or reaching new markets and customers. Ask us, for example, about Knowledge Transfer Partnerships that are a funded route to growing your organisation’s capacity.
• Contract research
  Commission research directly from our experts, giving you an advantage. You can expect us to respond either to direct commissions or tendered requests for response quickly and in full. 
• Facilities/equipment access
  Our excellent research and development facilities in all areas of the university’s work (from healthcare and sports science scientific equipment, bioscience labs and testing devices to design engineering tools, and from television production suites to performing arts spaces) are available for use, with excellent technical support. 
• Regeneration activity
  We work with local and national government on projects to support communities in our region – including outreach projects with local charities, our collaboration with Barnet and Saracens in creating a lively focus for community sports in Barnet Copthall, and healthcare capacity building work across London.
• Access to IP via license 
  We license the intellectual property we create (patents, copyright, design rights) to businesses and other organisations across the UK and across the world. Talk to us about whether our IP can assist your business ambitions. 

Our spinout commitment

Middlesex University has extraordinary applied research which is sometimes developed through spin-out. The University welcomed the conclusions of the Tracey review, and is seeking to adopt the recommendations.

Middlesex University is committed to adopting sector best practice in commercialisation by spin-out. The University has, or plans to build in concert with others,

• Innovation-friendly, clear, university policies, co-developed with investors, founders, and universities on the basis of sector experience (and specifically the experience of universities like Middlesex) - for example, there are clear protocols for spin-out development shared across the university
• An approach to spin-out deals on market terms that reduces negotiation timescales by adopting a starting position consistent with TenU’s University Spin-out Investment Terms (USIT) Guide, with exact terms varying depending on the wider commercial deal
• Co-developed guidance for (i) software spinouts (ii) hardware and engineering spin-outs, which typically sit somewhere between software and life sciences - with lower expectations around software spinouts of university equity stakes of 10% or less
• Co-developed frameworks for term sheets, similar to the US University Startup Basic Outlicensing Template (US-BOLT), to help streamline the negotiations process
• A rapid, simple approvals process for all stages of spin-out development, including response by and to founders, with a clear understanding from all parties of the commitment required and the timescales appropriate for the development of spin-outs. The university’s processes for spin-out decision are summarised in a protocol that is widely available across the institution

Middlesex University’s main contact for spinout review best practice adoption is Dr Mark Gray, Director of Knowledge Exchange (m.gray@mdx.ac.uk).