About InterAct

InterAct was funded by the UK Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) as part of the Public Sector Research Exploitation Fund initiative. The partnership was established to capture and exploit the synergies derived through combining the intellectual property, know-how and R&D services of these world class research organisations. InterAct was originally established in 2005 as a unique partnership between four leading UK government research agencies. In 2008 the partnership secured a further three years of funding and expanded to include two additional partners. The project was formally completed by April 2011, but the relationships that have been built continue and the InterAct collaboration lives on.

What InterAct Does

InterAct aims to help the partners create new commercialisation opportunities through combining their intellectual property (IP), know-how and R&D capabilities. Whilst each of the partners has their own unique fields of expertise (animal health; medical health; workplace health & safety; food, agriculture and environment; fish and shellfish health; and defence) they have many common underlying scientific strengths. Examples of these strengths include in vitro diagnostics of all types (e.g. antibody based; molecular diagnostics etc) and vaccine research and development. It is synergies and opportunities that can be created across these and other areas of scientific strength that InterAct aims to exploit.

In the first three year project, InterAct helped the partners identify more than 70 new project opportunities through facilitating 17 workshops across overlapping areas of scientific interest. In the second project, we identified over 150 new projects and held 19 scientific workshops. Examples include a vaccine workshop which identified novel animal vaccines created through combining VLA's animal health vaccine know-how with Dstl's vaccine antigen and expression systems. Many of the opportunities arose from a number of workshops in the field of in vitro diagnostics, which is a particular strength of all six partners. For example, InterAct has catalysed the development of new 'pen side' tests by combining Fera's expertise in lateral flow devices with VLA's unique animal disease antigen and antibody detection materials. InterAct brings such complementary groups of intellectual property assets (registered patent rights, know-how and/or facilities) to market through licensing, joint venturing, new company creation and other routes, across a full breadth of technology areas. In the first project, InterAct catalysed the formation of 15 successful exploitation vehicles, which includes 11 licences, 3 enhanced service offerings and 1 spin-out company. By the time of its official completion, the second project had produced a further 31 exploitation vehicles, including 5 licences, 1 technology sale, 3 research collaborations, 13 service offerings, 1 distribution agreement and 8 new products. The projects and activities fostered by InterAct represent a legacy of potential efficiency savings, commercialisation opportunities and possible income streams for the partners which will continue well beyond the successful completion of the project. Over 30 more potential exploitation vehicles have been identified, and these will be progressed by the individual partners.

The partnership managed its own Proof of Concept (POC) fund, which provided initial development funding to allow nascent opportunities to be progressed to a point where their commercial value can be better realised through licensing or further venture funding. The first InterAct POC Fund invested in 21 projects, many of which resulted in new exploitation opportunities being realised. The second InterAct POC Fund invested in 47 projects, and these are now also producing new exploitation vehicles for the partners. The majority of the ongoing projects are expected to complete by April 2012, and these represent a pipeline of opportunities which will enable the partners to increase their commercial income in the future.

'IP portfolio clustering' is a term that is often discussed as a means by which public sector research organisations can create additional value from combining their IP assets. However, in reality the implementation of such processes can be fraught with problems, both in practical and organisational terms. InterAct is an example of how this clustering can successfully function across diverse organisations and add real value for both the organisations and their commercial partners.

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