Academics aiming to show their enterprise

Yorkshire Forward's Yorkshire Enterprise Fellowship is giving dozens of academics the chance to become entrepreneurs.

Over the last six years, the Yorkshire Enterprise Fellowship and its predecessor the Bioscience Yorkshire Enterprise Fellowship, have attracted 3.5m funding from Yorkshire Forward and helped to create 17 science-related companies.

Altogether, 95 academics have been able to see if their ideas could be turned into business opportunities.

The latest participants include Steeve Lamvohee, of the University of Hull, who wants to make it easier for throat cancer sufferers to communicate.

People with throat cancer lose their voice if their voice box is removed. According to Mr Lamvohee, the present "gold-standard" method to restore "vocal function" is to use a small silicone valve that reconnects the windpipe and the throat.

He added: "The valves typically last only three months because of contamination and need to be changed; a procedure which is uncomfortable and sometimes distressing.

"As a result, there are estimated to be 16,500 valve changes every year in the UK – at a cost of nearly 10m.

"A more reliable speech valve would improve patients' quality of life significantly. They would not have the uncertainty of valve failure or the discomfort of valve replacement. They would also have more freedom from their hospital."

Throat cancer sufferers' confidence would grow, and they might even be able to get back to work, Mr Lamvohee added.

"We have developed and tested a new design of valve in the laboratory that appears to have significantly longer life than the designs currently available,'' he added.

Mr Lamvohee said he wanted to carry out clinical trials and find investors. If all went well, it was possible the product could come to market in the second quarter of 2011, he added.

Diana Anderson, from the University of Bradford, is developing a blood test which could help to identify people who are most at risk from skin cancer.

She said: "There are entrepreneurial spirits around in Yorkshire. There must be lots of people in universities with great ideas that don't know how to take things forward."

Other fellows include Paul Humphreys, from the University of Huddersfield, who hopes to develop a process to test "biocidal" wipes which stop the spread of potentially lethal bacteria such as MRSA. At the University of York, Adar Pelah, has devised a "virtual reality" system to help rehabilitate stroke patients who have trouble walking.

The system is based on a computer controlled treadmill. Patients are supported by a harness and encouraged to perform tasks in a computer-simulated virtual environment. As a result, they regain confidence in their ability to move around without fear of injury. The aim is to establish a spin-out company to market the system in collaboration with other distributors.

The Yorkshire Enterprise Fellowship scheme, which comes to an end next month, has supported entrepreneurs studying and working at universities in Yorkshire and the Humber.

It has been aimed at recently qualified post-doctoral and post-graduates students who want to see if their research has commercial potential.

The fellowship helps the academics to develop their research and pick up tips about how to run a business.

The research and development of the science is monitored and supported through academic mentoring.

There are also mandatory entrepreneurial skills training sessions, with seminars and workshops.

Jim Farmery, the assistant director, business, at Yorkshire Forward said: "Yorkshire Forward encourages innovation and entrepreneurship at all levels across the region. The Yorkshire Enterprise Fellowship is designed to ease the route to commercial success for our regional scientists by providing them with an opportunity to transform their

bright ideas into marketable products."

The new entrepreneurs

By the end of next month, 65 academic and NHS researchers will have completed their year-long Yorkshire Enterprise Fellowship, which has been managed by YTKO Consulting.

The scheme, which helps academics to become entrepreneurs, has attracted interest from a number of large global companies. Simon Hill, the executive director of business at Yorkshire Forward, said he believed the project will bring new jobs and money into the region, and also improve the quality of healthcare.

Investors wanting to find out more about the scheme should visit www.yef.org.uk.