When it comes to founding spinouts, universities normally provide the technology while companies take on the business development. The School of Entrepreneurship at Sweden’s Chalmers University has reversed that flow, with the academic world picking up technology from industry and providing the business development needed to carry the innovation to market. To date, this business model has driven the creation of a portfolio of 50 companies valued at €70 million. In the case of the spinout Lamera, the model has proved to be especially efficient.
In 2004, the Volvo Group asked the School of Entrepreneurship to explore the potential of a technology previously invented in one of its labs. Engineers Mattias Grufberg and Anders Axelsson, then students in the school, were assigned to analyze the technology’s potential, write a business plan, and eventually launch a start-up as the basis of their Masters degrees. The technology, called Hybrix, was developed by Volvo researcher Roland Gustavsson to reduce the weight of Volvo cars without shifting from steel to aluminum, as many competitors had done. Inspired by the structure of birds’ bones, Hybrix is a “microsandwich” of hollow metal that looks and behaves like solid metal but is much lighter. Nevertheless, the innovation had never made the transition into the car plants.
Chalmers’ School of Entrepreneurship had developed a unique way to translate laboratory inventions into successful, marketed products. Every year, it launched five spinouts that transform students into real-life entrepreneurs. In its model, the owner of the IP — the Volvo Group in the case of Lamera — keeps 45% of the newly created company while the founding entrepreneurs and the university share the remaining 55%. “For students it means a job and ownership,” Grufberg explains. To be chosen as entrepreneurs, however, students must develop a solid business plan.
With oil prices starting to shoot up, Grufberg and Axelsson realized that any technology that could reduce the weight of planes, trucks, wagons, boats, and cars would be welcomed. Recognizing that the transport industries also have high barriers to entry, they focused on a niche. “In the car industry, a weight reduction of one kilo translates into savings between €5 and €15 over the lifespan of the vehicle,” Grufberg says. “But in the aircraft industry, one kilo less translates into a savings of between €100 and €140 on kerosene a year.” So a ton less on a 361-ton Airbus A380 saves €140,000 a year for the carriers. Given this value proposition, Lamera knew where to focus. With a technology that can reduce the weight of steel by 70% and aluminum by 30%, Grufberg and Axelsson had a clear business plan that convinced not only the Volvo Group but also Midroc New Technology — the venture arm of billionaire Mohammed el Amoudi — to take a stake in Lamera, which has raised €2 million to date. With its first factory ready to start shipping, Lamera also has proven the value of its business plan.
Source: Science Business