Credit: David Kidney, Executive Chair of WMHTC and Chair of Life Sciences Week Advisory Board
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the West Midlands does innovation well. Centuries in the making, the creative ideas and the means to commercialise them have long been a source of strength.
Reading the great news that University of Birmingham spin-out company Delta.g won the 2025 Institute of Physics Business and Innovation Group (qBIG) reminded me how important universities are in helping to commercialise brilliant ideas and inventions. Delta.g won the Prize for creating the world’s first field-deployable quantum gravity gradiometer.
A team effort
Translating brilliant ideas into commercial successes requires joined-up effort across the board – from drawing board to boardroom. There is not just one Valley of Death on the road from invention to commercial success, there is a whole series of them, ready to catch out the unaware, the unprepared and the unwilling. Unwilling to take a risk? Unwilling to follow advice? Unwilling to learn from mistakes made? If so, don’t choose an innovator’s life!
Visiting Birmingham’s Bio Hub recently, I was reminded of another University of Birmingham spin-out, Linear Diagnostics, a company benefiting from incubation support there. They recently won a pitch award arranged through the WM Health Technologies Innovation Accelerator.
Multiple establishments are involved
Then there’s Aston University’s spin-out Aston Vision Services Ltd, a creator of technically advanced, high value products for eye care. Karl and Karina Obszanski have built a dynamic, forward-looking business here in Birmingham.
Universities’ R&D, business support and investment opportunities are all core ingredients of many a successful journey for an innovator. Here in the West Midlands, we are fortunate to have world-class university services, joined-up arrangements for business support and growing interest among investors to be part of the growth action here.
£30m to world-leading universities
And I see that the Department for Science Innovation and Technology has announced that the public sector is being primed to support new spin-outs with £30 million backing. The £30 million will go to world-leading universities working with industry partners in the Midlands and in three other areas of England. The Midlands will get almost £10 million over 5 years to address the talent, expertise and skills gaps in the Midlands by creating a Talent Pool, inward investment champions and innovation networks. The project will particularly target Heath, Advanced Manufacturing, Net Zero, and Creative & Digital sectors.
Spin-outs give one indication, amongst many others, of a strong and successful innovation ecosystem. In the West Midlands, spin-outs are a positive sign that we are working well together and heading in the right direction.
