Research England Council member
Dr Tony Raven FInstP MIoD is a member of Research England’s Council.
Tony is a highly cited researcher, a successful serial entrepreneur and international leader in university research commercialisation, investment funds, and innovation ecosystems. He retired in 2021 after 10 years heading up Cambridge Enterprise, the research commercialisation arm of the University of Cambridge. He is currently Chairing Spinouts Denmark’s International Advisory Board and Queen Mary Innovation at Queen Mary University of London.
He sits on the boards of:
- the Government Office for Technology Transfer
- the University of Manchester
- the Henry Royce Institute
He is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Commercialisation and Innovation Policy Evidence Unit (UCI), an adviser to the University of Tokyo IPC and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Shandong University’s School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
At Cambridge, Tony created:
- Cambridge Innovation Capital, a follow-on investment fund for university spin-outs and Cambridge start-ups that now has over $1 billion of assets under management
- an alumni investment fund with Parkwalk (who are now the leading investor in UK university spin-outs) and TenU
- a partnership of the research commercialisation offices of the University of Cambridge, Columbia University, University of Edinburgh, KU Leuven, University of Manchester, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, Stanford University and University College London which is developing best practice, advising on policy, and developing future leaders
Under his leadership Cambridge spin-outs increased 250%, spin-out seed investment by the University by 750% and consultancy by 90%, leading to four unicorn companies (more than $1 billion valuation). In 2021 Cambridge Enterprise was awarded Platinum level Best employer in an independent survey of its employees.
Prior to Cambridge Tony was at University of Southampton University where he co-created the IP Group with investment bank Beeson Gregory, and created the SETsquared university incubation partnership, that has supported over 5,000 companies raising £5 billion and employing 17,000 people. Before Southampton he was a serial entrepreneur with three start-ups which exited for a combined $1.5 billion and a highly cited researcher at the University of Oxford and Osaka University. Tony is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Member of the Institute of Directors.
Period of appointment: April 2025 to March 2028
Last updated: 1 April 2025