Have academics got the right balance between teaching and entrepreneurial activity?
There is a lingering view that universities are remote and elite institutions, focused on maintaining the status quo. But that image is increasingly one of the past. While there are some universities where the phrase ‘ivory tower’ could be applied with certainty, modern universities are becoming linked inextricably with industry. Whether they do this by fostering particular relationship with technology companies or by spinning out their own companies is a matter of choice, but today’s academic institution is more like a business than ever before – and the academics within these institutions are nothing like the dusty professors of yore. Professor Chris Toumazou is executive director and chief scientist within Imperial College’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering. But he’s also a serial entrepreneur. Is he the model for the academic of the future? “More than ever, we need a balance between the entrepreneur and the ‘blue sky’ academic. We will always need academics looking at what’s goi
