In addition to the consultants and associates introduced here Isis Enterprise draws on the full expertise of all 70+ staff of Isis Innovation in delivering services to our clients.

OUR CONSULTANTS

Tom Hockaday, Managing Director, Isis Innovation - Tom became Managing Director of Isis Innovation Ltd in 2006, having joined Isis in 2000. Before moving to Oxford in March 2000, Tom was at Bristol University for seven years where he was Managing Director of Bristol Innovations Ltd; before that Tom worked in UCL’s research contracting section for four years. Tom was Chairman of UNICO in 2003, the UK’s technology transfer trade association. Tom was on the founding Committee of Praxis, the UK’s national training programme aimed at technology transfer professionals, from 2002 to 2005.

Dr David Baghurst, Head of Isis Enterprise Asia - David studied chemistry at the University of Oxford prior to completing a DPhil entitled "Applications of microwaves in chemical synthesis". Following two years as a fixed term lecturer in chemistry at Imperial College, London, David joined the Cookson Group as Head of the Advanced Products Group at the Cookson Technology Centre. David joined The Oxford Trust as Director of Industrial Programmes in 1996 supporting the creation and growth of high tech companies, managing technology business incubation and business networks. David joined Isis in 2002 as Head of the Physical Sciences Group working on commercialisation projects from chemistry, physics, engineering, materials and computing. David has an MBA from Warwick Business School and has sat of the board of a number of emerging technology businesses from the life and physical sciences.
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Dr Costas Chryssou, Managing Consultant - Costas has over 15 years experience in the photonics and telecom industries involved in technology innovation, research and product development as well as in the creation of intellectual property. He has worked for academia and world-class multinational corporations such as Alcatel Submarine Networks. He also had the opportunity to work for a high technology start-up that span out from the University of Southampton, from its initial stages until its floatation in the AIM stock market, where he managed technology development projects for the defence and telecoms sectors. Prior to joining Isis, Costas worked for Pera Innovation as an Innovation Projects Manager where he managed and delivered business consulting services to commercial organisations and government departments specifically in operational improvement and high growth strategic management. Costas has a degree in Physics from the University of Athens and an MSc in microwaves and opto-electronics and a PhD in opto-electronics from University College London. He also gained his MBA from the School of Management at the University of Bath. Costas joined Isis Enterprise in January 2010.
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Dr Steve Cleverley, Managing Consultant - Steve is a life scientist with a PhD in Immunology gained at Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, and commercial experience in sales, marketing and product development. He spent five years with Ciphergen BioSystems Inc, a US-based mass spectroscopy company focusing on the clinical and translation research markets, where he built and coached a team of field application scientists, and introduced several new products into the European Market. He later joined Wood Mackenzie Ltd as Head of life sciences marketing, and then Touchdown Biomarketing, a small life sciences consulting organization offering strategic and tactical support to overseas biotech companies looking to enter the Europe. Steve also has experience of company formation and SME management. He has an MA in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and gained his MBA at Henley Management School in 2008. Steve joined Isis Enterprise in January 2011.
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Dr Chris Moody, Managing Consultant - Chris’ career in technology marketing and sales management includes senior positions with Helix Technology Corporation, Kulicke & Soffa Industries and KLA-Tencor Corporation, as well as a broad consultancy background with Edgeworth, Inc. His extensive international business experience, particularly in Asia, adds to the rich knowledge base within Isis Enterprise. Chris has also served on a number of industry and corporate boards. He holds a BA from the University of the Pacific in California and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Willamette University in Oregon.
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Elena Andonova, Consultant - Elena joined Isis Enterprise in October of 2009 as a fellow from the Said Business School at Oxford University, where she had recently completed her MBA. Elena has so far been involved in several innovation projects at Isis, including one in her home country, Bulgaria. Before coming to Oxford, Elena spent over 3 years working for the capital markets division of Lehman Brothers in London as an analyst in structured credit products as well as a sales professional, involved in negotiating trading of sovereign bonds and interest rates products. Elena has experience of macroeconomics and corporate finance. Elena graduated from the American University in Bulgaria with a double major in Economics and Business Administration and graduated with honours from the Sofia high school of mathematics. Elena is also Financial Services Authority authorised.
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Eva Baltar, Consultant - Eva studied Business Administration at the University of Santiago de Compostela where she also earned a Master of Science in Applied Economics, which focused on the survival analysis of Spanish innovative companies. She spent three years working as a consultant at the Technology Transfer Office of the University of Santiago de Compostela, where she was also an investment analyst at a venture capital society specializing in technology-based spin-outs.

Eva afterwards moved to the private sector and gained experience as a Deputy Finance Director, and later returned to technology transfer management at the Deputy Vice Presidency of Knowledge Transfer at CSIC, the largest public research institution in Spain. At CSIC she managed, for more than three years, R&D projects and the commercialisation of technologies through the creation of spin-outs. Eva joined Isis Enterprise in September 2011 as a Consultant for Spain and Latin America, and is based in Galicia.
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Dr Andrew Barber, Senior Consultant - Andrew achieved a PhD in Solid State Physics from Imperial College London and a further Dphil in Astrophysics from the University of Sussex and has been involved in the commercialisation of Intellectual Property for some 15 years. He has worked in a number of successful companies and academic institutions including Imperial Innovations, based on Intellectual Property from Imperial College London, Capper Neill Plastics (formerly the UK’s largest distributor of plastics), NetScientific (Intellectual Property acquisitions and investments) and the Universities of Surrey and Sussex.

Most recently, at Imperial Innovations, he was the senior technology transfer manager for the physical sciences and at NetScientific he helped the company build a portfolio of investible start-up companies based on IP acquired from US and European universities. In total, he has been directly involved in the formation of 12 new high technology companies and negotiated a number of licence agreements, commercialisation services contracts with multi-national organisations, and research contracts encompassing a very broad range of technologies. Andrew joined Isis in April 2013.
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Dr Sarah Bond, Consultant - Sarah gained an MEng in Electrical and Information Sciences from Newnham College, Cambridge University, and a DPhil in Engineering Science from Keble College, Oxford University. She specialised in image analysis methods for medical imaging for a range of applications. She continued post doctoral research in medical imaging at Oxford University before moving to Siemens Molecular Imaging in 2007. At Siemens, Sarah worked as a scientist in the development of advanced software applications for Nuclear Medicine scanners, as well as managing the IP portfolio. Sarah joined Isis in April 2012.
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Manuel Fuertes, General Manager Spain/Special Projects - Spanish born, British educated, Manuel has spent much of his working life in China. In 2003, while doing an internship at Rolls-Royce, he founded an engineering consultancy company with headquarters in Shanghai. He is the recipient of numerous Engineering prizes, including the UK Institution of Engineering & Technology and the Mechanical Engineers prizes. Manuel has started up six companies over the course of his career and was president of the Entrepreneurship Network while he was a student at the University of Oxford. Manuel currently sits at the investment board of several investment funds as well as supporting fund raising activities. Manuel specializes in Entrepreneurship policies and the commercialization of technology.
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Dr Wenming Ji, Consultant - Wenming was most recently a project manager for Innovation China UK responsible for creating and managing collaborative research projects between UK and Chinese academics. With a technical background in food engineering and fermentation science Wenming has take a number of roles in sales, technology management and research. BSc, MSc and PhD qualified, Wenming was involved in research in the chemistry department in Oxford related to the spinout company Oxford Biosensors. Wenming’s role in Isis Enterprise is to build our activities in China.
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Dr Sarah Macnaughton, Senior Consultant - Sarah completed her PhD in Microbial Ecology at the University of Newcastle in 1992. After three years in post-doctoral research at Newcastle she became the senior researcher at a US environmental analysis business. Following this she joined the Centre for Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Tennessee before moving back to the UK in 2000 to join AEA Technology Environment and its Momenta operating division. At Momenta Sarah worked on a number of projects including research into bioremediation, management of a UK site for contaminated land research, a review of environmental science and training in the UK and the DTI BIOWISE Programme. Her final role at Momenta was as regional manager on the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships programme. Sarah joined Isis Enterprise in October 2006.
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Dr Mireya McKee, Consultant - Mireya earned a BSc in Chemistry from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, México, and completed a research internship at the Texas A&M University Citrus Center focused on natural product isolation and characterization. Subsequently, she obtained a PhD in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin as a CONACyT fellow specializing in medicinal chemistry synthesis and biomolecule-binding studies. She then carried out postdoctoral research in the Department of Biological Physics at the University of Oxford that combined organic synthesis and DNA nanotechnology. Mireya also completed the Science Innovation Plus Program at Oxford’s Saïd Business School where she developed skills for the assessment and business plan development for the commercialisation of scientific research. Mireya is fluent in Spanish and English and joined Isis Enterprise in July 2012.
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Gaurav Misra, Senior Consultant - Gaurav is an expert in the commercialisation of biomedical technologies with a special interest in licensing of drugs, discovery platforms and medical devices. As a strategy consultant for large biopharmaceutical companies, he has led projects on royalty monetisation, product pricing and investment due diligence over an eight year career in the life science sector. Prior to consultancy Gaurav worked as a health economist at Eli Lilly and as a strategic planner at Bayer Healthcare.

In the early part of his career, Gaurav established and managed an IT start-up and data centre, where he gained hands-on exposure to the challenges of establishing new business ventures. Gaurav has an undergraduate honours degree in Chemistry and a biotechnology focussed MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada. He joined Isis in May 2011.
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Dr Viraj Perera, Senior Consultant - Viraj is a biotechnologist with a PhD in Biotechnology from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University in Australia. Following a short contract as a postdoctoral researcher at RMIT, he co-founded a biotechnology start-up to develop molecular diagnostic tools for the rapid detection of respiratory bacterial pathogens. He managed the company as the CEO and is experienced in capital raising from private investors and government agencies, IP development and management, business planning, R&D project management, and start-up management. Following a successful start-up venture, Viraj joined the InnovationXchange (IXC) Australia as an innovation intermediary where he serviced clients from public and private sectors.

Viraj then migrated to the UK and worked as a Business Development Manager at Warwick Ventures, the technology transfer office of the University of Warwick, where he was involved in commercialising university IP. At Warwick, Viraj was involved in commercialising technologies from the School of Biological Sciences, Warwick Medical School and Warwick HRI where be gained experience in commercialising medical as well as plant biotech-related inventions.

Since joining Isis Enterprise in 2010 Viraj has been actively involved in project design and delivery, conducting IP and technology portfolio audits, commercilising UK university inventions via Technology Transfer Partnerships, and training/coaching technology transfer personnel and academic researchers from Europe, South America and Asia.
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Ya-hsin Shen, Consultant - Ya-hsin joined Isis as a Project Manager for the Technology Transfer group in 2008. She managed a portfolio of different technologies from engineering to medical products and biotechnology. Ya-hsin became a consultant for Isis Enterprise group in 2009 to develop and expand Isis Enterprise's business operations in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Taiwan. Ya-hsin holds a first class honours degree in Bioindustry Engineering from the National Taiwan University in 2001 and a Master in Electrical Engineering from the National Chiao-Tung University. She obtained an MBA degree at Said Business School, University of Oxford in 2007, and her entrepreneurial project in Said was rewarded as a runner-up for the JPMorgan Best Entrepreneurial Project. Prior to the MBA, she was a researcher in Academia Sinica and an IT Specialist at IBM Life Sciences Center of Excellence.
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OUR ASSOCIATES

Kenji Aiba MBE - Kenji studied social psychology at the Kyoto Prefecutural University. Kenji joined Yagi Tsusho Limited, a Japanese trading firm, where he was engaged in export business. Kenji stayed in Australia (Sydney and Melbourne) for 6 years from 1978 as the head of company’s Australian office. After returning to Japan, Kenji joined in 1986 the British Consulate-General, Osaka (BCG) as the Senior Inward Investment Officer. In August 1995 Kenji received an MBE for his dedicated service to British Government. Kenji retired from BCG at the end of July 2011. During his 25 years of work at BCG, Kenji brought over 100 investment into the UK, including those of manufacturing and R&D by Toyota, Panasonic, Sharp, Sanyo, Denso, Takeda, Aisin Seiki, Kawasahi Heavy Ind and Fujisawa Pharmaceuticals.

Kenji joined Isis in September 2011 as the Japan Representative. Kenji has extensive knowledge of UK academia, Japanese R&D investment in the UK, and wide networks in Japan from industry to academia built up over many years.
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Terry Pollard - Terry studied physics at the University of Bristol before starting his career as a technical business consultant. After 4 years working on projects across the UK in the telecoms, utilities, and transport sectors, he studied full-time for his MBA at the Business School Imperial College London. Following the completion of his MBA in 2003, Terry joined Isis Innovation where he worked as a Project Manager commercialising intellectual property primarily from the physics, chemistry, materials and engineering departments.

Terry was a key figure during the planning and creation of several successful Oxford University spin-out companies. One of these, Oxford Catalysts Plc (a company that is developing speciality catalysts for the generation of clean fuels), floated on the London AIM market in 2006, and Terry left Isis to join the company. Here he worked in a business development role whilst also helping to coordinate activities with the different scientific research teams in a small and fast growing company.

Terry returned to Isis Innovation in April 2008 to join Isis Enterprise, providing technology commercialisation and innovation consultancy services to governments, industry, and academia. Terry is now an Associate Consultant for Isis Innovation, contributing to business development and project delivery in Malaysia, Singapore, and the surrounding region.
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Dr Tim Hart - Tim is an experienced entrepreneurial business manager. Prior to his work at Isis, Tim was the founder and CEO of an environmental diagnostics University spin-out. He took the company through six rounds of private investment and managed 28 shareholders. He sold the business and is now leading Zyoxel - an Oxford spinout. Tim has obtained significant experience in a wide range of issues associated with early stage technology business development. He is a proactive supporter of entrepreneurship and business mentoring both inside and outside academia. Tim gained a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Surrey in 1997 and a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Nottingham in 1993.

Dr Wolfgang Denzer - Wolfgang studied for a chemistry degree and a doctorate in natural sciences at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. He joined the Physical & Theoretical Laboratory at Oxford University as a postdoctoral researcher in 1996. Wolfgang co-authored over 40 scientific publications in chemistry, physics and zoology and is a named co-inventor on a patent in medical breath diagnostics. He held EU and Leverhulme Research Fellowships before becoming an Oxford University Enterprise Fellow in 2004.

His management experience in early stage technology development and licensing was gained as R&D Manager of Oxford Medical Diagnostics Ltd, an Oxford spin-out. Later on he led the company’s medical trials in the NHS as Clinical Trials Director. He further assisted with the business development and marketing activities of Screenworks Berlin as well as Internet Marketing Partner in Germany. Wolfgang has worked with Isis Enterprise as an Associate Consultant since April 2011. He currently shares his time between Spain, Germany and the UK.

Dr Tiancun Xiao - Tiancun earned his PhD in heterogeneous catalysis from the Chinese Academy of Science in 1993. As an Associate Professor at Shandong University in China, Tiancun spent the next six years collaborating on both petrochemical and environmental projects with Sinopec, the Shandong Provincial Government and the World Bank. Tiancun came to Oxford in 1999 and joined Malcolm Green's Wolfson Catalysis Centre as a Royal Society BP Amoco Research Fellow. Their research found commercial life as the spinout company Oxford Catalysts which achieved a listing on the London Aim Stock Exchange in 2006. Tiancun has been appointed a Visiting Professor of the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Lecturing Professor of Eastern China University of Science and Technology and Guest Professor of Guizhou University in China. Tiancun has published over 80 papers, has filed seven patents and has received many awards for his research both in China and the UK.

Xiaowei Hu - Prior to joining Isis, he worked for Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences. With background in chemistry and business management, Xiaowei has been playing roles in technology transfer, business development and international cooperation for four years. He managed a portfolio of industrial and academic partners including Huawei, Tencent, Skyworthy, 999, Midea, ADSC, I2R, UBC, etc. Qualified with Master degrees in educational research and international business economics from KUL, Xiaowei is also engaging in research in technology transfer and innovative entrepreneurship.
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Helen Ujvary - Helen was the Australian Representative of Ferghana Partners, an international investment bank which provides high level, independent corporate finance advice to firms in the Life Sciences field. Ms Ujvary was responsible for business origination in M&A and corporate partnering in the Australian bioscience sector. Helen later joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency, as a Business Development Manager. In 2007 Helen became a dual finalist for the Telstra Business Women’s Awards and was appointed South Australian Business Ambassador by the South Australian Premier. Helen studied Biotechnology at Canterbury University before receiving an MSc in Chemical Engineering from Keble College, Oxford University (for which she was awarded a BBSRC Scholarship), a Diploma from the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an MBA from Adelaide University. Helen joined Isis Enterprise in December 2012 as the Australian Representative, contributing to business development in Australia and the surrounding region.
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Dr Olga Shvarova – Olga joined Isis Enterprise in 2012 as an Associate Consultant. She studied Geology and Environmental Science at Moscow State University, Russia before joining Schumberger Cambridge Research Centre in the UK as an Engineer. After working on the design and testing of tools for deep wells in the lab, she moved to US for fieldwork. Upon her return to UK, Olga worked as a Project Coordinator for a Russian-based design company, then as a freelance e-commerce Consultant for Cash Converters, Junior Management Consultant for McGrigor Corporation Ltd and assisted pre-startup companies in patent research and writing. In 2007 Olga won an EPSRC-DTA scholarship to study the self-assembly of organic molecules on mineral surfaces at the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, and in 2011 joined the Department as a Researcher, training University personnel and doctoral students in electron microscopy. During her doctorate Olga also worked for the Dahrendorf Programme for the Study of Freedom in St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford as a freelance writer and a Russian-English translator.
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Dr Salvador Elias Venegas-Andraca - Salvador holds a DPhil in Physics and an MSc by research in Artificial Intelligence – both awarded by the University of Oxford – as well as an MBA and a BSc in Digital Electronics and Computer Science. He has held Professorships at Tecnologico de Monterrey and Anahuac University and has been Visiting Professor at Harvard, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Yucatan University (Mexico), Sergio Arboleda University (Colombia), and Bahia Blanca University (Argentina).

As a researcher, Salvador’s interests are found in the fields of quantum algorithms, solar energy and technology transfer; as an entrepreneur, his focus is on the founding and development of high-tech companies, particularly SMEs. Bermasolar, a company devoted to research, design and installation of solar energy systems, was founded by Salvador. He also formed Disruptive Computer Technologies, a company devoted to scientific and tailor-made software development.

In addition to the above activities, Salvador has worked as a consultant for SMEs since 1993, and is an established media commentator and conference speaker on subjects including technology transfer and the popularisation of science.
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Dr José Bernardo Rosas–Fernández - Dr Rosas-Fernández is currently Director of Innovation for NEC Mexico. He is a former member of the Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge, and a member of the Cambridge Integrated Knowledge Centre for Advanced Manufacturing Technologies. Dr Rosas-Fernández has produced more than 45 international publications, and has developed novel technologies with companies such as Intel and Avago (former HP). Dr Fernandez has specific expertise in the field of TT and has run training courses in Mexico on the subject of technology entrepreneurship and administration of technology.

He has advised a range of Mexican research institutions and also has helped to develop the Latin America market for high technology companies in Cambridge and Europe such as SmartQuantum, Ubisense and others.
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Yousuf Al-Bulushi - Yousuf’s work experience in higher education includes research and practice for more than fifteen years in Oman’s Sultan Qaboos University. His research has focused on entrepreneurship and innovation, entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial universities, social enterprise, philanthropy, organisational culture, youth studies, extra-curricular activities, and higher education management. He has also led student programmes in innovation, cultural activities, youth activities, youth enterprise and employment, and higher education leadership. He is currently completing a PhD programme at Cardiff School of Management.

Yousuf was nominated as Assistant General Secretary of the Arab Association for Student Activities between 2000–2005, also engaged in international cultural exchange amongst the Gulf’s universities and Arab universities. Yousuf holds Bachelor of Education and Master of Education Management degrees from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.
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