Dr Darren Cundy joined the University in April 2020 in the newly created  role, Director - Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise within the Research and Innovation Division.

Reporting to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Darren's role oversees the Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise (KEE) business unit, created by the amalgamation of “Newcastle Innovation” and the University’s entrepreneurship program “I2N”.

Darren and the KEE team will work with our research community and our external partners to ensure that the University’s intellectual property and know-how, are translated and transferred into innovative products and services that change and improve lives.

Darren said “While our University already has a strong track record of commercialisation and collaboration, the Engagement Priorities identified in our Looking Ahead Strategic Plan 2020-2025 bring these objectives into even sharper focus, KEE will play an important part in making our engagement with stakeholder more efficient”

Darren brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our University. In his most recent role as interim Chief Executive Officer of the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), Darren was responsible for managing the CRC through incorporation and oversaw its contracts with the Commonwealth and around 40 participants.

Over the past six years as Director of Business Development and Technology Transfer at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), he has been a key driver for the establishment of several spinouts to commercialise the technologies developed by the University. Darren has also held a number of senior roles at the CSIRO and has been an investment manager in two venture capital firms.

“There is an impressive scope and depth to the research outcomes emerging from the University of Newcastle, so it is incumbent upon me and the KEE team to make sure that we are able to exchange knowledge and transfer those research outcomes into benefits for the region and beyond, “ he said.

“This exchange can occur in lots of different ways, such as licensing and new venture creation so part of the role will be embedding transparent processes that make this engagement simpler.”

Darren holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Queensland, a Masters of Science and Technology Commercialisation from the University of Adelaide, is a Registered Technology Transfer Professional (RTTP) and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

In 2019 Darren was part of the team that was awarded the Defence Science and Technology Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia and won the Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia’s ‘People’s Choice’ and ‘Best example of Top-Tier Practitioner Work’ awards in 2018.