School rules

Gordon Murray and Alan Dunlop Architects designed an extraordinary, internationally award-winning school that started with a most challenging set of constraints. Completed in July 2007, the designers took on the project with a 'research and development' perspective that set a high bar for innovative. Designing a school for children of varying ages, needs and disabilities presented a not inconsiderable challenge as Dunlop reveals: 'We didn't have a brief we had client requirements, we had design objectives. This building has to be absolutely brilliant kind of thing.' Secured by design proved to be a heavy imposition on the architectural team, this necessitated the use of CCTV cameras and strenuous health and safety requirements

Road back to Damascus

Letter in response to Georgina Ward’s ‘Damascene Dereliction

Education for a smarter profession

We must build for this nation a big passion for innovation. We must make the development of the creative mind a national agenda. Unless we get really serious about cultivating creativity and promoting innovation, the transformation to an innovation economy will not really happen

A critical assessment of marine aquarist biodiversity data and commercial aquaculture:identifying gaps in culture initiatives to inform local fisheries managers

It is widely accepted that if well managed, the marine aquarium trade could provide socio-economic stability to local communities while incentivising the maintenance of coral reefs. However, the trade has also been implicated as having potentially widespread environmental impacts that has in part driven developments in aquaculture to relieve wild collection pressures. This study investigates the biodiversity in hobbyist aquaria (using an online survey) and those species currently available from an aquaculture source (commercial data and hobbyist initiatives) in the context of a traffic light system to highlight gaps in aquaculture effort and identify groups that require fisheries assessments. Two hundred and sixty nine species including clown fish, damsels, dotty backs, angelfish, gobies, sea horses and blennies, have reported breeding successes by hobbyists, a pattern mirrored by the European and US commercial organisations. However, there is a mismatch (high demand and low/non-existent aquaculture) for a number of groups including tangs, starfish, anemones and hermit crabs, which we recommend are priority candidates for local stock assessments. Hobbyist perception towards the concept of a sustainable aquarium trade is also explored with results demonstrating that only 40% of respondents were in agreement with industry and scientists who believe the trade could be an exemplar of a sustainable use of coral reefs. We believe that a more transparent evidence base, including the publication of the species collected and cultured, will go some way to align the concept of a sustainable trade across industry stakeholders and better inform the hobbyist when purchasing their aquaria stock. We conclude by proposing that a certification scheme established with government support is the most effective way to move towards a self-regulating industry. It would prevent industry "greenwashing" from multiple certification schemes, alleviate conservation concerns, and, ultimately, support aquaculture initiatives alongside well managed ornamental fisheries

Timing of international market entry of UK and German high-tech start-ups

We examine the impact of technological product advantages, prior international experience of the management, firm size and age, country differences, and sunk costs as determinants of the timing of international market entry. The timing of internationalisation is analysed using ?event history analysis? for 600 British and German start-up companies in high-technology industries. The results indicate that the incidence of internationalization increases over time. For the majority of new firms the question is not whether the firm will internationalize but when. The analyses indicated that a high commitment to R&D fosters rapid internationalization. The involvement of founder managers who are internationally experienced increases the speed of foreign market activity. Working against rapid internationalization was a high level of product customization. The findings suggest that timing of internationalization is a dynamic process which is influenced by initial human capital endowment, technological advantages, and learning from of day to day activities. --start-ups,high-technology industries,internationalisation

Venture capital support to small businesses

Supplementary Appendices 1-3 to report published by National Audit Office (HC: 23, 2009-10; ISBN: 9780102963304)This report looks at the Department’s programme of venture capital funds which 2 support small businesses seeking equity based finance. The scope of the report does not include Government provision of debt finance or tax incentives for small businesses, nor does it attempt to look in detail at “investment readiness” programmes within Government which assist small businesses in preparing their business plans so that they can pitch their propositions to investors more effectively.The National Audit Office commissioned Professor Gordon Murray supported by Dr Louis Liu of Exeter University to undertake a data collection exercise to allow the National Audit Office to understand the extent of publicly sponsored venture capital programmes in other countries

Evaluation of the Danish Growth Fund: evaluation of activities, 2010–2012

Report commissioned by the Danish Ministry of Business and Growth.With this report, DAMVAD, professor Gordon Murray (UK) and professor Marc Cowling (UK) evaluate the activities of the Danish Growth Fund (DGF) from 2010 to 2012 on behalf of the Danish Ministry of Business and Growth. The evaluation seeks to address the objective of DGF to mitigate market failure and create socio-economic return in light of the development of DGF over time and international experience in this field.Danish Ministry of Business and Growt

Twelve meditations on venture capital

publication-status: PublishedAuthor's draft isued as working paper 09/06 by University of Exeter Business School. Final version published in Venture capital: investment strategies, structures, and policies; ed. Douglas J. Cumming. Wiley, 2012. ISBN 9780470499146This paper reflects on the policy formation process in the burgeoning area of venture capital finance. An important question is raised as to why so little extant academic research, of both rigor and relevance, is employed in policy formation. The authors argue that the long term, international and comparative perspective of the academic researcher is of increasing importance in government. The gap between policy practice and academic empiricism is illustrated by reference to contemporary policy interest in the creation of public/private (‘hybrid’) venture capital funds. The rubric of 12 Meditations is employed as a device to communicate across the academic/policy maker divide

Through a glass darkly: new perspectives on the equity gap

Invited paper to the European Commission programme Gate2Growth Academic Network, Barcelona, October 2004. Second prize winner (European best paper award in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Finance).European Commission programme Gate2Growt

The "virtuous circle" of informal investment activity: evidence from the UK

Working paper dated May 2003This paper seeks to quantify the frequency, scale and demographic characteristics of informal investor activity in the UK over a three year period 1999-2001 using population survey data. 1.1 million informal investors invest £12.8 billion per annum. The 'typical' informal investor would appear to be a well educated, middle-aged male from a higher social class with direct experience of starting-up a business. The importance of multiple forms of entrepreneurial experience suggests the existence of a 'virtuous circle'. Successful entrepreneurs metamorphose into informal investors and become an important source of both finance and relevant experience to other, as yet, un-established entrepreneurs