18/08/2026
Turning Ideas Into Impact
Bournemouth University and Dorset Business Angels: Backing the Region's Brightest Founders
Dorset Business Angels (DBA) has launched its dedicated university entrepreneurs page, aimed at undergraduates, graduates, academics, alumni and growth managers. Scott Wright, Associate Dean for Research, Innovation and Enterprise in the Faculty of Media, Science and Technology at Bournemouth University, discusses spinouts, strategy, and why the region's future growth is set to be built on universities and investors working ever more closely together.
From Melbourne to Bournemouth
Scott joined BU in March 2022, arriving from Monash University in Australia after a decade at two of the country's leading research-intensive institutions, Monash and the University of Melbourne.
“If we were going to move back to the UK, Bournemouth was an obvious choice because of the lifestyle,” he says. “It's got real similarities to Melbourne, just on a different scale, a town rather than a huge city. It felt like the right move from day one. BU also has a fantastic reputation in media, communication and journalism, which is my academic background.”
The bigger shift was really about how the university operates. “Research-intensive universities like Monash and Melbourne have huge budgets and big faculty-level research teams. BU works differently; everything's centralised rather than sitting within each faculty, so we're smart and agile about how we deploy resources. It's a model that suits a university of our size, and it means people wear more hats and collaborate more directly across the institution.”
Building BU2035
Since arriving four years ago, Scott has found an entrepreneurial culture with huge amounts to shout about. “BU does so much of this already,” he explains. “There's fantastic activity happening right across the university, and we're now getting much better at telling that story. The question I always ask is: why would you come to BU when there are lots of other universities? We've got a genuinely compelling answer, and we're building on it.”
The new BU2035 strategic plan, which has entrepreneurship, innovation and civic impact at its heart, gives it much more support and visibility. It's also why his own job title changed to reflect entrepreneurship and innovation directly.
Within his faculty, that translated into four “commitments” for PhD students, including an innovation commitment to build pathways for PhD students to commercialise their research.
“We want the option there for everyone,” Scott says. “Whether that's going for two-and-a-half-thousand pounds of support for an early-stage idea through Innovate UK's ICURE programme, or up to thirty-five thousand pounds of buyout time for a member of staff to properly commercialise their research, we're building real momentum behind these ideas.”
BU has also worked with Conception X, a nationwide venture-funded programme that helps PhD students commercialise their research without giving up any equity. One BU team has already reached the competition final.
The Spinouts Making Waves
Ask Scott for examples and the ideas come thick and fast. Cyber Innovations Group Ltd, founded by Professor Vasilis Katos alongside Emily Rosenorn-Lanng, combines cybersecurity and psychology to build resilience training that helps people spot phishing attacks before they cause harm. Scott arranged a meeting with the team and DBA's Chris Spackman. The group's work now spans several live projects, including a project with SGN and BU on more accessible carbon monoxide alarms, a great illustration of how BU research is finding commercial homes in more than one form.
Then there's Atanas Burmov, a computing undergraduate about to finish his third year who has already built a portfolio of ventures including Multix and Airlytics, an intelligent air-quality monitoring and remediation system. Multiple-time national sustainability champion, finalist in several green-tech accelerators, and already client-validated with a growing patent portfolio, Atanas has had support from BCP Council as well as the university. “He's a brilliant example of what our students are capable of,” Scott says. Most recently, Rupert Murphy, a BSc Product Design student won New Designer of the Year for his ‘Re-Warm’ project, a portable rescue device created to support people recovering from cold water immersion in collaboration with the RNLI. Elsewhere in the region's growing founder scene, BU software engineering graduate Sam Barrett has launched Graft, a job management and tax app for tradespeople, which has since been shortlisted for a South Coast Tech Award.
Perhaps the most eye-catching is Phantom Touch, developed by PhD researcher Sasha Alexdottir. Her VR system creates the sensation of being touched: a stroke on the arm, a hand on the shoulder, purely through a headset, with applications in rehabilitation and mental health. The research has already featured on BBC News."
Why the DBA Collaboration Matters
For Scott, the relationship with Dorset Business Angels is a natural fit. “We're a fast-growing player in this space, and collaborations like this help us grow even faster,” he says. That's meant regular introductions between DBA figures; Chris Spackman, Mike Bradley, Dan Ware among them, and academics or students with ideas worth backing.
He's enthusiastic about how the relationship continues to develop. “What we're building is genuine collaboration, our students and staff pitching regularly, learning from DBA's expertise, and DBA getting early sight of some brilliant, investable ideas coming out of the university.”
Much of that momentum came together at BU's inaugural “Dream Big” event this May, a two-day workshop bringing entrepreneurs, including a Dragons' Den alumnus, in front of students building pitches from scratch. This will run every year.
The DBA collaboration also plays an important role in helping academics see the full range of possibilities open to them. “Chris is brilliant at helping people see the value in their own ideas,” Scott says. “Commercialisation is one route, and it might also mean a not-for-profit model that reinvests straight back into more research. What matters is helping people realise their ideas are valuable, and that there are several great ways to bring them to life.”
It's a philosophy Scott has lived himself, having grown up around his family's bakery and food business in Bakewell, Derbyshire. “That creative, entrepreneurial instinct is something so many academics have,” he says. “Collaborations like the one with DBA give us the means to back those ideas and give them room to grow.”
Building the Infrastructure
Momentum is building fast, and Scott is excited about what comes next. BU's spinout and IP commercialisation support is set to be boosted by a new Innovation Hub - a dedicated focal point bringing together specialists in spinout support and Innovate UK bidding. “We know we don’t have all the answers, and so we’re consulting on this right now, including getting input from the DBA. The Innovation Hub will include a new incubator for staff and student ideas, undergraduate, postgraduate, alumni and PhD alike, complimenting and feeding talent into the external accelerators. Once that's in place, we'll have the pipeline to help turn all the ideas, designs and products into potentially fundable businesses for investors like the DBA”, Scott says.
The Bigger Picture
The conversation comes weeks after Andy Burnham's speech setting out a vision for universities at the heart of the UK's growth agenda, backing technologists, entrepreneurs and creatives, and outlining closer partnership between government, business, universities and communities.
Scott is careful not to speak for the wider institution on regional positioning, but is unequivocal about where BU sees itself. "The BU2035 plan puts us at the heart of the region, with commercialisation and enterprise central to what we want to do for our place. Creative industries, cybersecurity and health innovations are key focal points for us, while defence and autonomous systems are growing streams."
There's also a wider civic ambition Scott is keen to champion. "Bringing in more international students and building more partnerships brings people into our area who support cafés, and support Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole – international students alone are a £150m net benefit for BCP. It makes the place more multicultural, more diverse, more interesting, and that's something to be really proud of."
The funding logic works in BU's favour too. Universities receive Higher Education Innovation Funding based on how well they engage with industry, meaning every spinout BU creates helps unlock funding to support the next one. "It's a genuine win-win for us as a university," Scott says. "But the reason that matters most is simple: we want to help our area grow and thrive and help our students and staff have impact."
A Virtuous Circle
For Scott, working with the DBA crystallises exactly what BU is building towards. "We want to create opportunities for students to turn their ideas into impactful projects — commercial or not-for-profit, artistic, whatever form that takes. We want to be place-based, local and regional in how we do it, and partnerships are at the heart of that.”
"It's a natural fit for us to work with the DBA. We create investable ideas, and DBA brings the capital, resources and expertise to help them grow. Everyone benefits. It's a virtuous circle, and one we're only just getting started with."
