The creation of spinout MintNeuro is a case study in the many elements needed to translate academic research from the lab to the world.
It takes many hands to bring research out of the lab and into the world. Behind the creation of the spinout MintNeuro, for example, were colleagues at Imperial and other institutions who helped develop the founding team's knowledge and experience, so that commercialisation of its research into neural implants became a possibility.
Meanwhile, grants helped fund different aspects of the transition from research to development and on to application of the original innovation. Then investors stepped in to finance its journey to the market. In November, MintNeuro announced a £1 million investment round, including support from the Imperial College Enterprise Fund.
"Throughout the journey from idea to spinout, Imperial's enterprising ecosystem is there to help our academics make the most of their research, and our students and post-grads to realise their potential as entrepreneurs," says Dr Simon Hepworth, Director of Enterprise. "When a spinout like MintNeuro makes such an impressive debut, we can all feel a little bit proud."
For more than 20 years, the common thread has been to exploit semiconductor technology in new ways for these very space and power-constrained implantable devices. Professor Tim Constandinou Next Generation Interfaces Lab
But it begins with the academic researchers, of course. Professor Tim Constandinou of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering has been working on neural implants in one form or another since beginning his PhD at Imperial in 2001.
"Our first encounter with medical technology was when we were approached by a cochlear implant manufacturer, who wanted us to apply our ultra-low-power technology to devices then using conventional technologies," he recalls. "This began an avalanche of different applications, from vision chips and retinal implants to vestibular implants for balance."
In 2010 he established the Next Generation Neural Interfaces Lab to further this work, later extending its scope to include to brain-machine interfaces for applications such as spinal cord stimulation and bioelectronic therapies for drug-resistant epilepsy and neurodegenerative conditions. "For more than 20 years, the common thread has been to exploit semiconductor technology in new ways for these very space and power-constrained implantable devices," he says.
Connecting with the clinic
This research was always carried out with practical applications in mind, but there was only so far it could go in an academic setting. "Within a university you can't really target human applications, because of the regulatory requirements on one side, and the legal liabilities on the other," Professor Constandinou explains.
A way out of this impasse became clearer once the Imperial team became involved in CANDO, a £10 million project led by Professor Andrew Jackson at Newcastle University to develop a cortical implant able to treat focal epilepsy.
"This project was transformative for us," Professor Constandinou recalls. "We were working with a medical physics department that was handling all the regulatory requirements with the neurosurgeons, something that did not feature in other projects. That gave us really good exposure to what it takes to translate this kind of research into a product."
As this and other projects progressed, he started to reflect on the intellectual property (IP) generated by his group. This was supported by a regular IP portfolio review carried out with colleagues from Imperial Enterprise. "I would meet with them every six months and update them on the research and our plans for doing something with the patents we had filed," Professor Constandinou says.
His ideas were favourably received, but the panel pointed out that something was missing. "They said: 'You have an amazing plan, but you will have to find someone who is going to be fully committed to it, someone with energy but also a passion for the field.' At the next review, I turned up with Dorian."
Resident entrepreneur
This is Dorian Haci, who had first joined Professor Constandinou's team as part of a Master's project at Politecnico di Torino, then returned in 2015 to take part in the CANDO project as a Research Assistant, and also to begin a PhD. While he was fascinated by the science and engineering involved, he had no ambition to become an academic. Instead, he was following the entrepreneurship training provided by Imperial with a view to starting a company.
He first took a five-day mini-MBA provided by the Imperial College Business School, then enrolled in a series of short courses on how to create a spinout company. Next, he won a place on the MedTech SuperConnector (MTSC), an accelerator run by Imperial that supports promising innovations in medical technology.
"I've always had the entrepreneurship mindset, but I needed to develop the technical skills, knowledge and knowhow to do that," he says. "Once I joined the MTSC in 2020, that really kick-started things in terms of fully understanding what it meant to create a company, to build a team, and the practical steps involved."
His goal was always to build an implantable neurotechnology company, but he needed stronger research and business validation first. His initial idea for a medtech venture involved a non-invasive solution using radar technology to monitor vital signs and body movement remotely. "But doing the MTSC allowed me to understand the limitations of that technology for the specific application, and to pivot towards implantable devices, which is where the group's research strengths and my knowhow lay," he says.
The RAEng Enterprise Fellowship allowed me to stay within the research group and develop the technology with the team, but focusing specifically on venture building. Dr Dorian Haci MintNeuro
By early 2021, he and Professor Constandinou had an initial business plan, and Dr Haci applied for a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship to develop the concept further. "That funding allowed me to stay within the research group and develop the technology with the team, but focusing specifically on venture building rather than doing the research myself," he says.
The programme connected Dr Haci with a mentor: Professor Tim Denison, a global authority in the medical device industry and former vice president responsible for core research and technology at Medtronic. The one-year fellowship training, coupled with the mentorship and coaching, shaped Dr Haci's vision and MintNeuro's business plan.
In April 2022, the process to spin out MintNeuro began. Dr Haci became its Chief Executive, Professor Constandinou took on the role of Chief Technology Officer, while Professor Jackson from Newcastle became its Chief Scientific Officer. Professor Denison later joined as the Chair of the Board.
Why a spinout?
The decision to create a spinout rather than look for other commercialisation routes was driven by the technology's readiness for application. "Licensing is great if you've hit a milestone in terms of validating the technology, which a company can then move to the next stage," Dr Haci explains. "For us, the ten years was more about building the IP, not just in terms of patents but knowing how to build chips for implantable devices."
Creating MintNeuro enabled further R&D to take place in close contact with the academic team. This allows the technology to be further de-risked, until it reaches a point where it can be offered to the medical device industry.
During this period the company also benefited from access to state-of-the-art labs at Imperial's Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology. The facility is specifically designed for high-performance electronic medical devices and includes labs for rapid prototyping, low noise/low power electronic characterisation and a suite of cleanrooms for post-CMOS processing.
This work has been supported by grants, including an EPSRC Impact Accelerator award and an i4i FAST award from the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). These were followed by a major grant from NIHR, providing £1.4 million to Imperial, MintNeuro and King's College London for the development of a wireless intracranial neuromonitoring device for drug-resistant epilepsy.
"This has been a key award for us," says Professor Constandinou. "It was a significant amount of funding, and the company could both take part and receive 100% of the rate, so it did not have to find matching funds. That's what allowed us to spin out and to start work without having any private investment."
A year on, MintNeuro received a convertible loan in the pilot round of the MTSC Seed Fund, which went on to become part of its recent £1 million investment round.
Meanwhile the company took part in ChipStart UK, a government-funded incubator for early-stage semiconductor startups, which provided the team with both technical and commercial help. At the end of the two-year programme, MintNeuro was named ChipStart of the year at the TechWorks 2024 Gala.
People are key
The emphasis on knowhow in MintNeuro's story is also apparent in the large founding team, with seven of the nine co-founders connected with Imperial in some way. "For me the Imperial ecosystem is about access to talent," says Professor Constandinou. "We know how many companies struggle to recruit, so we have been quite fortunate to have access to that talent pool."
Some people have joined MintNeuro directly from the university, while others have returned after working for other companies. "The experience they've gained since they left Imperial has certainly benefited us," says Dr Haci. "They bring back more than they left with."
Meanwhile, research that was taking place when the company spun out is still underway. "In terms of intellectual property being developed within Imperial, we've maintained links and have access through mechanisms like an intellectual property pipeline agreement," says Professor Constandinou. "But we see the group's ongoing research as more aligned with the longer-term vision of the company rather than with MintNeuro's immediate focus."
Applying for grants together is a lot more powerful than doing so as Imperial or MintNeuro alone. Dr Dorian Haci MintNeuro
The relationship also helps both partners seek further funding. "We have a lot of R&D still to do, and for that we need both investment and grant opportunities," says Dr Haci. "Applying for grants together is a lot more powerful than doing so as Imperial or MintNeuro alone."
This is borne out in recent awards from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, in which MintNeuro and its partners secured £17 million for three projects advancing the clinical adoption of chip-scale neurotechnologies.
"The fact that MintNeuro is central to so many of the successful applications speaks volumes to both the quality of the work and the critical role MintNeuro is playing in the UK ecosystem," said Jacques Carolan, director of ARIA's Precision Neurotechnologies programme.
