Case Studies

A UK university research group commissioned Hatch Oxford to provide the commercial backbone of their bid for national innovation funding. The work assessed the market for a novel power-electronics technology across voltage levels, ran a structured outreach programme to end-users and tier-one manufacturers, and identified the realistic commercial pathway: a low-voltage entry segment in the renewable integration market, with tier-one partnership as the only viable route into the conservative utility sector at higher voltages. Engagement and findings remain commercially confidential.

KYMA Battery Technologies was a deep-tech company founded in 2022 by Lesley Blaine and Chris Gregory on a specific thesis: that the fastest route to meaningful US grid storage capacity ran through repurposed EV battery modules, not new cell production. KYMA was incorporated in Wisconsin, seed-funded, and built as a transatlantic operation — engineering and commercial strategy from the UK, manufacturing and site presence in the US. Over two years the founding team ran a demonstrator cascade from residential through commercial UPS to a potential megawatt-scale containerised grid system and reached commercial certification. Lesley and Chris exited cleanly. KYMA establishes transatlantic company creation as a distinct capability in Hatch Oxford’s practice.

A UK university’s commercialisation office commissioned Hatch Oxford to make a retention decision on three patents in a single research group’s IP portfolio — retain and commercialise or allow them to lapse. The assessment reframed the portfolio as enabling IP for adoption by established commercial actors, not the basis for a new spinout. The recommendation was to retain on a licensing basis, with a defined narrowing rule if commercial traction did not materialise within a bounded period. Engagement and findings remain commercially confidential.

Airplus Renewables is developing XEVA, a vertical-axis wind turbine platform engineered for rooftop, coastal, and flowing-water environments — decentralised generation for sites that cannot easily absorb grid intermittency, coupled with onboard storage and smoothing to produce a deliverable power profile rather than raw instantaneous generation. Hatch Oxford has assisted the engineering programme since 2024: generator selection, baseline CFD, iterative aerodynamic optimisation, wind-tunnel validation, and now the certification pathway. The engagement reshaped the product architecture around the engineering conclusion that on a building, siting — not the turbine — is the binding constraint on rooftop wind. Engagement ongoing.

A UK university enterprise office commissioned Hatch Oxford to take a research programme — a novel industrial robotics technology aimed at an emerging circular-economy application — through to a spin-out-ready commercial proposition. Phase 1 characterised the technology stack, segmented the adopter market, mapped the competitive landscape, and recommended a specific commercial form: a spin-out positioned as a systems integrator rather than a hardware manufacturer, with the fastest-moving adopter segment as the beachhead. Phase 2 — spin-out formation and readiness — is now live. Engagement and findings remain commercially confidential.

Hatch Oxford is the Commercial Champion for a wastewater metal recovery technology developed at the University of Strathclyde. The engagement has moved through a staged public commercialisation pathway — qualification, then company creation funding — and is now in pre-spinout development. The work has produced a defined market beachhead, an industrial validation pipeline with tier-one operator engagement, a service-revenue business model designed to match the technology’s engineering reality, and a phased capital plan to seed and beyond. Spinout formation is targeted in 2027. Engagement ongoing.

A UK university enterprise office commissioned Hatch Oxford to assess a novel low-energy separation process for a high-volume materials recovery application. The strategy reframed the commercial question from “where does a spinout fit?” to “which revenue route moves fastest?” — and recommended three pathways in parallel (process licensing, equipment supply, and joint venture) over any single commercial form. It also reframed the priority feedstock: manufacturing scrap, generated continuously inside production facilities, was identified as the fastest route to commercial traction ahead of end-of-life material. Engagement and findings remain commercially confidential.

A UK university research group commissioned Hatch Oxford to review the commercialisation routes for two adjacent thermal-energy technologies they had developed in parallel. The strategy review concluded that the two technologies, despite their shared technical roots, had radically different commercial profiles. One was a standalone product capable of carrying a spinout. The other was a subsystem that enhanced existing equipment — better commercialised through licensing or integration with established players. Each received a tailored commercialisation pathway. Engagement and findings remain commercially confidential.