Some try, and a good many have succeeded. Knowledge of how to go about starting a company can save you much frustration and even failure. For many would-be entrepreneurs the two biggest concerns are: how will I protect my Intellectual Property, and how do I get funding? Within our wider Wolfson community we are fortunate to have two world class-experts: in Professor Andrew Christie, University of Melbourne, a leading authority on Intellectual Property for start-ups, and James Wong of Mercia Technologies PLC, who brings experience of healthcare and technology start-up funding in both the UK and internationally.
This event is part of WOLFSON EXPLORES | Transformation |.
About the speakers
James Wong is Head of Corporate Advisory at Mercia Technologies PLC. He collaborates with colleagues across the Group, management teams of portfolio companies, as well as co-investors and external advisors, to accelerate the funding and scaling of portfolio companies in the UK and internationally. Prior to Mercia, James undertook scientific research at Cambridge Computational Biology Institute, University of Cambridge, before starting his career at Cambridge Consultants. He then entered venture capital and became an investment manager at NBGI Ventures, a venture capital firm in London investing in medical technology companies in Europe and the US, before its spin-out to form Stage Capital. More recently, he was an investment director at Fosun Pharma in Shanghai, China, focusing on venture capital and university IP commercialisation investment funds and spin-out companies. James earned a Cambridge MPhil at Wolfson College and a BSc (Hons) from the University of London.
Andrew Christie has bachelors’ degrees in Science and in Law from the University of Melbourne, an LLM from the University of London, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Admitted to legal practice in Australia and the United Kingdom, he worked for many years in the IP departments of major law firms in Melbourne and London. He is a former Fulbright Senior Scholar, and has held appointments at the University of Cambridge, Duke University, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Toronto. In 2002 he was appointed foundation Chair of Intellectual Property at the University of Melbourne Law School. He teaches, researches and practises across all fields of IP law.
