Dinali de Silva RTTP

Responsibility for licensing intellectual property arising from the University of Manchester and securing investment into its spinout companies. Working closely with academic founders and key stakeholders on a continual basis, defining the value of opportunities, structuring deals and deciding on the optimal route towards commercialisation

I am responsible for commercialisation of Intellectual Property which involves working with academics across the University to identify projects with commercial potential, creating spinouts, negotiating high value licence deals and preparing projects for seed investment and other translational funds. Sectors I work in include pharma/biotech, drug discovery, diagnostics, machine learning/AI. I monitor the projects through each stage of their development from the initial disclosure, assessing the competitive landscape and market opportunity, managing the patent filing process, through to launch, marketing and licence negotiations. I have created spinouts not only in the pharma and biotech sectors but also in digital health. I also deliver training and mentoring sessions on IP and commercialisation both within the University and also at major conferences

Next Generation CT Imaging Technologies using AI

Developing drugs that target serious diseases associated with circadian rhythm disruption

My job involved sourcing and undertaking due diligence on a range of investment opportunities in the technology sector as well as negotiating and leading investments through to completion. I was responsible for monitoring the investment portfolio as non executive director/observer, developing commercial strategies for businesses and management team development. I was also responsible for undertaking both technical, market and intellectual property due diligence on companies, evaluating the management team and negotiating the terms of the investment through to completion. As well as making new investments, I was responsible for negotiating the terms of multiple re-investments in our portfolio businesses and negotiating several secondary VC exits. I took board positions (both as non-executive director and observer), evaluated the structure of the management team and monitored the overall performance of the business to ensure that milestones and target criteria were met. I was also responsible for reporting (both on a monthly and quarterly basis) on the progress of each of my investments.

Developer of ground breaking audio products

Developer of of novel fuel cell systems

Developer of semiconductor platform for next generation of low cost displays

Developer of rapid, non-invasive fingerprint-based drug screening

Data mining in the various academic departments to identify the projects most suitable for commercialisation, working with senior academics to build strategies to develop spin-out companies or licensing deals. Liaising with potential investment partners

Part of the MBA programme at the SAID Business School