Following a search exercise by the UMIP Board (advised by Odgers Berndtson – nationally recognised headhunters), The University of Manchester’s award-winning Intellectual Property commercialisation company (UMIP) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Krishnamurthy Rajagopal as its new Chairman.
Raj will commence his role on 1 May 2010. An alumnus of The University of Manchester, Raj completed his MSc in 1975 and his PhD in 1980 and has considerable experience of world-class manufacturing, engineering and technology; he is currently a non-executive director at: Bodycote plc, Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc, WS Atkins plc and is Chairman of HHV Pumps Ltd, a private company based in Bangalore, India.
Raj is a member of the Council of Science and Technology, the Prime Ministerial advisory body, and plays an active role in Government science and innovation policy and is an Audit Commissioner. He is also an advisory board member at the Centre for Business Research at the University of Cambridge and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree by Cranfield University in 2004.
Over the last 5 years, UMIP has set up 20 spin-out companies employing several hundred people whose annual combined sales turnover is £17M and has concluded 150 new licences and assignments. In 2009, UMIP won two awards for the commercialisation of new technologies from The University of Manchester: a PraxisUnico Business Impact Award and Technology Transfer Office of the Year Award which was presented at the annual Genesis Biotech Conference.
Raj commented: “I am very pleased to accept my new role at UMIP. The University already has an excellent track record in innovation and entrepreneurship, with many successful spin-out companies and a healthy and developing licensing business; I am looking forward to helping to raise the University’s outstanding reputation for entrepreneurship further.”
Clive Rowland, UMIP’s CEO, said that he was delighted that Raj had agreed to accept the appointment. “We are very much looking forward to working with Raj and I am sure that Raj’s appointment and contributions will be an important step in and big benefit to UMIP’s development on its path to 2015, and beyond.”
Raj takes over from Peter Sanderson who will retire from UMIP at the end of
April, having served the maximum of two full terms of three years for a non executive Chairman. Peter co-founded the company with CEO Clive Rowland during the summer of 2004.
