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.