Initiative Manager – Science Commercialisation and Industry-University Collaboration

Join us to lead a new global initiative to accelerate science commercialisation and business innovation through experimentation, data and evidence.

Location: Remote or Hybrid (Spain & UK)

Closing date: 8:00 am, 1st May 2025 BST

Apply here

About the Innovation Growth Lab

The Innovation Growth Lab (IGL) is a global policy lab dedicated to fostering productive, inclusive, and sustainable economies through the application of innovative policy ideas, experimentation, data and evidence. We partner with policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and funders worldwide to address key challenges in science, innovation, entrepreneurship, and business productivity policies.

IGL is a non-profit initiative hosted by Nesta, the UK Innovation Foundation, and the Barcelona School of Economics (BSE). Launched in 2014, IGL has become the global leader in this nascent field, achieved substantial policy impact across the OECD, and helped advance the experimentation agenda in this policy space.

We’ve helped over 50 government agencies worldwide to become more experimental, engaged with policymakers from over 45 countries at multiple levels (from EU finance ministers at the Eurogroup to junior changemakers within ministries and innovation agencies), successfully campaigned for the creation of experimentation funds in the UK and the EU, and seeded a growing global community of policymakers, practitioners and researchers engaged in policy experimentation in this field, collaborating with over 120 organisations to advance
this agenda.

Following our recent strategy review, IGL is setting up a new policy team to broaden our policy work, enhance engagement with policy stakeholders, accelerate the diffusion of novel policy ideas, and increase policymakers’ interest in experimental, data-driven, and evidence-based approaches to policymaking.

See www.innovationgrowthlab.org to learn more about our work.

Position Overview

We are looking for an Initiative Manager to establish and lead IGL’s new initiative focused on bridging the gap between academia and industry. IGL initiatives bring together leading organisations, researchers, practitioners and funders to ideate, develop, test and scale cost-effective solutions to address key challenges.

This is an exciting opportunity to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of science commercialisation on a global scale, at a time when AI is transforming possibilities, yet many long-standing challenges still persist.

Bringing academia and industry together is a widely acknowledged challenge across the OECD, yet robust evidence on the most effective solutions remains scarce. There is a prevailing belief that significant value is being left untapped and that more can be done to ensure scientific discoveries have an even greater societal impact. 

Experimentation can help guide effective policy design, improve the impact of these programmes and determine the most effective approaches. Despite this, there have been very few policy experiments targeting this challenge, and it is still very unusual for organisations working in this space to embrace experimentation. 

The advent of AI tools also creates novel opportunities to overcome some of the key frictions that slow commercialisation and collaboration (such as effectively matching scientific discoveries to commercial applications, and research teams to industry partners). Yet it is unclear what impact these tools have, and which other complementary activities are essential for data-driven tech transfer to deliver on its potential (such as incentives, awareness-raising, capability-building, resources, and engagement activities, to name a few).

This new IGL initiative aims to transform the evidence base in this space, develop more impactful interventions, and accelerate science commercialisation and university-industry collaboration worldwide.

A key focus of the initiative will be on developing solutions and strategies that can be adopted by a wide range of institutions, not just elite universities with significant resources.

Our approach leverages IGL’s unique expertise and position in the ecosystem: our core methods (policy experimentation and data science) and our extensive networks (the IGL Research Network, our policy partners and our broader community of stakeholders).

A key objective for this role will be to develop a portfolio of RCTs and data projects in collaboration with implementing partners (such as technology transfer offices, innovation agencies and other intermediaries) and researchers (both from the IGL IGL Research Network and the IGL team). 

The focus of these projects will vary. Some will co-create and test novel solutions and interventions (for instance exploring different use cases for AI tools and testing their effectiveness). Others will be experimental evaluations of common interventions, while others may involve testing subtle but potentially significant tweaks in the delivery processes of interventions. The Ideas Handbook that we recently published provides over a hundred illustrative examples of the types of RCTs that could potentially be conducted to address this complex challenge (but the sky is the limit!). 

We have a clear vision for the outcomes we would like to achieve, yet we are well aware that there are many paths that could take us to this destination. As Initiative Manager, you will be responsible for shaping the strategy, identifying the most impactful project opportunities, forging the required partnerships to take them forward, and driving the execution to deliver the initiative’s goals.  

You will be driven by a genuine passion for bridging the gap between universities and industry and maximising the societal impact of science. You will bring a strong “think-and-do” attitude, alongside an entrepreneurial, creative, thoughtful, dynamic, and action-oriented mindset. 

Collaboration and partnerships are crucial for achieving our ambitious goals. Therefore, building and cultivating strong relationships with stakeholders will be natural to you. You will bring together a global consortium of strategic partners aligned with our vision – a broad coalition of organisations that enable and support our work, including for instance tech transfer networks, universities, government agencies and/or philanthropic partners.  

The development of this initiative is generously supported by a major philanthropic donation, but achieving our objectives will necessitate securing further funding. With the support of IGL’s Director and colleagues in other teams, you will cultivate crucial relationships, craft compelling narratives to engage partners, and leverage your strong stakeholder connections to fundraise the additional resources required for team development, larger-scale activities, and grant funding.

The success of this initiative hinges on implementing impactful projects. You will actively engage with practitioners and researchers to identify promising opportunities, leveraging your expertise to develop and deliver engaging activities for ideation, matchmaking, and partnership building. Applying sound judgement, you will build a balanced portfolio, strategically combining high-risk, high-reward projects with relatively quick wins to maintain momentum and unlock future opportunities. Crucially, you will also forge the necessary project partnerships to take the projects forward, working with other IGL team members and external collaborators in academia and partner organisations to ensure successful execution.

You are not expected to be an expert in RCT design or data science methods; instead, you will collaborate closely with IGL’s experimentation team and our recently launched Data and Technology Unit, which will provide the necessary expertise. You will develop a good understanding of when and how these methods can be effectively deployed, and become a strong and effective advocate for their wider adoption.

Our impact will be limited unless our learnings are adopted and scaled. Therefore, you will play a key role in packaging the insights and solutions we create to ensure widespread dissemination and take-up, with a focus on ensuring that these solutions are practical and adaptable for institutions of all sizes and resources.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define the initiative’s strategy: 
  • Shape the vision for this initiative and develop the strategy and execution plan to deliver on it.
  • Articulate a clear and powerful USP that positions this initiative as a global reference for its ambition, approach, reach and impact.
• Develop strong and diverse partnerships: 
  • Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, including funders, policymakers, researchers and organisations working on the science commercialisation and industry-university collaboration space. 
  • Develop a global coalition of partners and establish a range of formal partnerships with distinct aims: to co-create innovative solutions, gain access to experimental opportunities and testing sites via implementing partners, collaborate with researchers on projects, and secure funding for this initiative.
• Lead project delivery:
  • Lead on identifying, shortlisting, and selecting appropriate projects, activities or solutions for development, implementation and evaluation.
  • Manage a portfolio of projects and programmes using a range of research methods (e.g., RCTs, data science and design) and approaches (e.g., in-house projects, Impact Accelerator, Grant Funding, etc) to deliver on the initiative’s mission.
  • Manage IGL team members and external collaborators and partners working on initiative projects, and create the conditions to build a dedicated team for this initiative.
• Dissemination and scaling:
  • Create a range of outputs and activities to disseminate the insights, solutions and tools developed by the initiative, and establish an engagement strategy to contribute to wide diffusion, adoption and scaling.
  • Represent IGL at conferences and related events.

Key requirements:

• Strong knowledge and experience on science commercialisation and/or industry-university collaboration, gained as a practitioner (e.g., tech transfer office), a researcher (e.g., writing research papers or policy reports), a policymaker (e.g., drafting policy initiatives) and/or in other related positions (e.g., multilaterals, networks, think tanks, etc).
• A strong interest in science, innovation, entrepreneurship, and business productivity policies, with a belief in the power of new approaches, experimentation, data, and evidence to shape better policies.
• Proven experience developing and managing relationships with stakeholders at different levels (including practitioners, funders, government officials, international organisations, academics, and the private sector).
• A good understanding of the rationale and potential of RCTs, data science, AI tools and design, and willingness to learn when and how they can be effectively deployed (methodological expertise on implementing these methods is not required).
• An entrepreneurial, creative and curious mindset, capable of thinking outside the box, with good judgement and open-mindedness to the many possibilities to approach this challenge in different ways.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to critically assess project ideas, research and evidence, and identify options to improve them. 
• Exceptional communication and writing skills, with the ability to craft clear, persuasive narratives, reports, and other materials for diverse audiences.
• Proven ability to effectively manage a diverse range of project activities and deliver tangible results.

What we offer

Salary: Competitive remuneration commensurate with experience plus an array of benefits. Depending on the successful candidate’s experience, we may offer a position at a different level.

Location: This role can be based in Spain or the UK. IGL has offices in Barcelona and London but this role can also be remote (within those two countries). Please note that for appointments made in the UK, employment will be with Nesta, while for appointments made in Spain, employment will be with the Barcelona School of Economics.

Term: Permanent

Hours: This is a full-time role, but we also welcome applications from candidates seeking part-time arrangements. We offer a range of flexible working options and encourage our people to take advantage of them. Many do.

Making an application

To apply for this role, please submit your application here before 08:00 am on the 1st of May 2025. Interviews will take place w/c12th May- w/c 19th May.

At IGL we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results. We want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop. This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful. We are open to candidates from a range of backgrounds – do consider applying even if you do not feel that you perfectly meet every requirement on this list.