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Mike Capaldi

Dean of Innovation and Business

Three decades working in industry have given Mike Capaldi, the Dean of Innovation and Business, valuable insight into how Newcastle University can boost the North East’s economy.

“For the past 10 years of my business career I held chief executive roles in early stage university spin-outs,” explains Mike.

“One of those, Hunter-Fleming – was a biopharmaceutical company, which we sold for $25million to Italian group Newron Pharmaceuticals. That was a highlight but overall I loved working at the interface between universities and business.”

I loved working at the interface between universities and business.

Mike Capaldi

Then, in 2010, Mike’s transitioned into the university sector accepting a senior role with the University of Edinburgh, before joining Newcastle University as Dean in 2018.  He believes that his past experience can be a significant asset for the University.

“Part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy is about using innovation generated in our universities to help grow the economy. You do that by working in partnership with business; my aim is to drive more of these types of partnerships but also to look for new and different opportunities,” he says.

“Companies want relationships with us for a number of reasons. They want to recruit our graduates, collaborate with our researchers, and license our intellectual property to help them grow.

"In addition, they may want to entrust the continued development of their employees to us through our degree apprenticeships or CPD courses.”

Mike says he has been wowed by the already close links between Newcastle and business.

“We have researchers at Newcastle who have a very entrepreneurial attitude and vital business contacts,” he says.

“I aim to build more strategic relationships with multi-national companies along the same lines that we currently enjoy with Siemens, but also to provide more help to local small- and medium-sized businesses via our Arrow Programme or knowledge transfer partnerships.

"Through these programmes, we share our knowhow and utilise our expertise to help them grow.”