Spin-out companies

Monash University has created a number of successful 'spin-out' companies over its history, including Monash IVF, Acrux, Calzada (formerly called Metabolic), Ofidium and Relevare Pharmaceuticals. These companies are formed when the University takes the intellectual property and forms a new business to commercialise that IP based on a solid business case.

The formation of a successful spin-out company requires a number of different factors to come together at once:

• Innovative technology, process or service
  • Generally protected by registration of appropriate IP rights.
• Experienced management team
  • Essential for success.
• Committed research team
  • During the establishment of the company significant commitment from the research team is needed to help transfer the technology and associated 'know-how' into the company.
• Solid business case
  • Aligning technology and company development with the requirements of the funding providers.
• Sufficient money to develop the business
  • Obtained through a variety of equity funding, research and other matching grants.

Monash has established a process for forming spin-out companies and other legal structures. An outline of this process is available at the page University Framework for Legal Structures. The formation of a spin-out company requires not only effort but also resources. For this reason, a spin-out company is only formed when it is clearly the best way to commercialise the innovation.