Academia to IPO - A Modern Odyssey

The author relates the story of a disruptive technology in hardware compilation and reconfigurable computing. Conceived in academia, it led first to a 'spin-out' and then to a public company. After a career spanning computing and electronics in both industrial and academic environments the author started a new research group at Oxford University in 1990. The 'big idea' was to develop a method of automatically implementing computer programs directly in parallel hardware - or 'hardware compilation'. The talk covers the creation of the technology and the company, raising finance for it and the (unfinished) story of how to encourage the adoption of a disruptive product in the marketplace. The spinout experience changed his life in completely unexpected ways. The author now runs a 25 m early-stage fund which invests in other high-tech spinouts from UK universities. From this broad 'poacher turned gamekeeper' background the author hope to be able to offer some insight into the process of shepherding disruptive technologies from the hallowed turf of academia to the harsher pastures of commerce.