US millionaire Snyder berates Scotland’s ‘difficult’ enterprise culture

American multi-millionaire Sheridan Snyder has said Scotland is “30 to 40 years behind the US in its entre preneurial activity” following his lack of success in launching any companies as part of his BioCatalyst venture to commercialise Scottish research.

Snyder, who founded the world’s third largest bioscience company, Genzyme, wants to use his money, international network of venture capitalists, scientists and marketing experts to give university spin-outs the competitive edge to commercialise their tech nology and break into the US markets. Eighteen months ago, he talked about supporting eight companies by the end of 2005.

However, he admitted that three potential projects based with Medical Research Council Technology (MRCT) in Edinburgh, and the universities of Glasgow and Dundee had failed to get off the ground .

Sheridan said he was “extremely disappointed” that the projects had not worked out and that no deals had been sealed yet in Scotland.

“We still have a small office in Scotland,” he said, noting that three individuals were at the early stages of looking at 10 other projects. “I hoped for Scotland to be a more vibrant territory. I had to make the decision to move our primary office to Cambridge. There’s a lot more activity there.”

He added: “Scotland is 10 to 15 years away from an enthusiastic entrepreneurial culture where university transfer units are encouraging the creation of companies with their science.

“It’s not a major objective of the universities at the moment to create commercial spin-outs. It’s a very difficult process.”

He said that this problem was not exclusive to Scotland, and that English universities had similar difficulties. “The science is there. Do the key scientists really have on their agenda the importance of trying to commercialise their science? Not really. I don’t blame them. They don’t have any role models,” he added.

“I’m persevering. I’ve had success in Scotland,” he said, a reference to his involvement in the Dundee operation of bioscience firm Upstate taking advantage of research from Philip Cohen’s laboratory at Dundee university. However, he added: “ As Americans investing in entrepreneurial activities, patience is not our virtue.”

Snyder’s comments were given some backing by Scottish technology guru Ian Ritchie. He said that he believed Scottish universities were stifling the country’s start-up rate by having unrealistic expectations about how much their research is worth. “When a lab has a bit of a breakthrough, their assumption is that it is eventually going to be worth a billion,” he said. “In practice, it just doesn’t work that way. They get very heavy-handed. They want guaranteed royalties, 20% equity share. It’s not sensible.”

Kevin Cullen, director of research and enterprise for the University of Glasgow, said: “Making money out of commercialisation is not our top priority at all. The top priority is to get the research outcomes out there to be used.”

Julia Fields, Sunday Herald 23 Oct 2005.