---
title: "(NU/1433-19) MicroBritt: Commercialisation of university research through provision of management skills to assist in successful spin-out company creation"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-02be27"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02be27"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02be27.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02be27.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY"
published: "2021-06-21"
---

# (NU/1433-19) MicroBritt: Commercialisation of university research through provision of management skills to assist in successful spin-out company creation

Buyer: NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-02be27

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## Summary

The procurement process involves Newcastle University as the buying organisation, seeking management skills through a tender titled "(NU/1433-19) MicroBritt: Commercialisation of university research through provision of management skills to assist in successful spin-out company creation." This initiative falls under the services category, specifically focusing on business and management consultancy. The procurement stage is marked as complete, with the contract being awarded recently on 10 June 2021. The process was conducted through a selective procedure requiring submissions by 3 bids for the project located in Newcastle, UK.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses, particularly those specialising in consultancy services, manufacturing, and spin-out company development. Enterprises that can contribute management expertise, financial planning, and operational support in the high-tech manufacturing sector will be well-suited to compete. The focus on bespoke high-value production and 3D printing technologies indicates a growing market for innovative solutions in microscale manufacturing and development, making this an appealing prospect for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking to expand their footprint in the competitive landscape.

## Notice

A new manufacturing paradigm is emerging whereby there is an increasing need for rapid production of bespoke high value products. This is already prevalent with the rise in the use of 3D printing and machining technologies. Such approaches, if applied to the microsystems space will allow for rapid biosensor development, bespoke micro-component fabrication, and novel systems for the Internet of things. Newcastle University has developed a novel method, called Hy-MEMBS, for machining a variety of brittle materials while minimising edge chipping which usually occurs when milling microscale grooves in brittle planar or 3D materials. This work was led by Dr Dehong Huo, Prof. Patrick Degenaar and Dr Carl Dale from the School of Engineering at Newcastle University. The aim is to create a service-based spin out company, called Microbritt, which will address the rapidly increasing need for high-speed, high-value bespoke manufacturing with microscale precision. The initial brief of the executive will be to: Phase 1: Seed Funding; To help obtain seed funding alongside Carl (Interim CEO / Sales Director) and the Microbritt team. The seed funding will aid cashflow around the Innovate UK grant income. Phase 2: Development of internal documentation and procedures including a standard customer contract template, a standard employee contract, terms and conditions and HR processes, financial controls and reporting including practicalities like bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, NI, PAYE and pensions. Phase 3: Create a specification and contract for Microbritt's manufacturing web portal. Phase 4: Develop commercial documentation for business processes for lead generation, sales, production, and customer service. Phase 5: Development of a comprehensive and ambitious Business Plan, backed up by a full financial model for Series A fundraising.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Newcastle, Durham, Sunderland and Northumbria universities, in common with universities throughout the UK, have advanced relevant systems and procedures and also dedicate significant public resource to both research and commercialisation of that research. A key route to commercialisation is the creation of a new business (a spin-out company) wherein the intellectual property (IPR) developed exclusively licenced to a university start-up company in exchange for (founders) shares in that company. The universities ill engage suitably qualified and experienced executives through the DPS as and when required over the DPS period. The specific requirements will be detailed in each further competition. The initial brief of the executive for which he/she will be paid, dependent upon the scope of the specific project engagement sought, either a payment or a combination of a payment and a share/stock option will typically be to: (a) produce a viable business plan; (b) obtain university approval for the venture; (c) act for the company in the spin-out legal process and address all the company formation matters; (d) provide to the appropriate university all matters necessary for ESIF,ERDF and Research England reporting requirements; (e) secure (venture capital and/or other) funding in accordance with the business plan.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/014004-2021 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Dynamic |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Selective |
| Procurement method details | Restricted procedure |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 21 Jun 2021 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 9 Jun 2021 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £30,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY |
| Additional buyers | DURHAM UNIVERSITY; EUROPEAN UNION; NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY NEWCASTLE; UNIVERSITY OF SUNDERLAND |
| Locality | NEWCASTLE |
| Post town | Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Postcode | NE1 7RU |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLC North East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLC4 Northumberland, Durham and Tyne & Wear |
| ITL 3 | TLC43 Tyneside |
| Local authority | Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Electoral ward | Monument |
| Westminster constituency | Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West |
| Delivery location | TLC North East (England) |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | ALDERSLADE |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 79400000 - Business and management consultancy and related services

## Release History

- 21 Jun 2021 at 10:13 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/014004-2021

## Notice URLs

- https://Sunderland.ac.uk
- https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:016574-2019:TEXT:EN:HTML
- https://www.durham.ac.uk
- https://www.ncl.ac.uk
- https://www.northumbria.ac.uk

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02be27. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02be27.json.