Sunny Ray talks with Parag, co-founder and CEO of University Tech.io, about bridging the gap between university research and industry. Parag traces his path from schooling in Singapore and an Indian boarding school to studying marketing and economics in Scotland, where he began his career in tech transfer at the University of Strathclyde before moving into digital health in India. He describes his aha moment with ChatGPT, which pushed him to upskill in prompt engineering and eventually build University Tech.io with a lean team of under five people. The conversation covers how universities generate deep, long term research but struggle with marketing and standardizing IP for commercialization, and how University Tech.io uses AI to aggregate, communicate, and match university technologies with small and midsize businesses, entrepreneurs, and mid career professionals looking to license IP instead of building from scratch. Parag shares case studies in nutraceuticals and wastewater treatment, discusses funding pathways through deep tech investors, and outlines plans to work with government innovation units and eventually feed data back to universities on gaps like missing technology readiness levels.
AI helps a lean startup match dormant university IP with businesses and entrepreneurs hungry for innovation.
Can you share your backstory before AI, and how you got into tech transfer?
I grew up in Singapore, did two years in an Indian boarding school, then studied marketing and economics in Scotland. My university was strong in commercializing IP, and right out of business school I worked as a consultant to the tech transfer office helping academics with business plans and market research. That was my first window into tech transfer, mostly in healthcare. Twenty years later, after building a career in digital health in India, I started my company two years ago, which feels like a full circle moment.
Did you have an aha moment with AI, a moment where you realized this would change everything?
Yes, when ChatGPT came out it felt very different from prior chatbots I'd seen, like an Indian company called Haptic that used mostly decision rules. I told my family I had to upskill, took a prompt engineering course, and knew I had to become a builder or get left behind. Everything I've built at University Tech would have needed a team of PhDs and huge funding in the pre AI era, but AI let me build and accelerate without technical expertise myself.
How does it feel to build a product company with such a small team using AI?
It's very empowering. At exhibitions people assume we have a thirty to fifty member team building a global product from India, which is rare and a proud moment for me. In reality we're less than five people. The cost of technology development has come down significantly, and AI has made it possible to operate seriously in a technical space like technology transfer without being a scientist or engineer myself.
With all the fear around AI and job loss, do you worry about that, or see it more as empowering entrepreneurs?
I listen to a lot of these conversations and it informs my worldview, but I worry more about structural factors, country by country. In India I still see job postings demanding premier institute MBAs even as major companies cut jobs. Countries with a strong entrepreneurial culture will adapt no matter what technology wave comes, but places dependent on stable career paths, like parts of the Far East, may struggle more with the transition.
What is University Tech doing differently to connect university IP with industry?
A lot of university research is long term and funded by government, so there's no commercial pressure early on, but once it's ready to commercialize, marketing is inconsistent with no standardization. Coming from a marketing background, I started by fixing that: aggregating IP, simplifying how technology and benefits are communicated, and targeting small to midsize businesses who often don't realize licensable IP is an asset class they can use instead of building R&D from scratch.
Can you give an example of a successful match on the platform?
A nutraceuticals market leader in India came to us and found a plant based technology in Malaysia for knee pain and osteoarthritis. We shortlisted two technologies, got them on a call with the academics, and they're now finalizing a deal. We also helped a large wastewater treatment company that usually only works with startups; they shortlisted twenty four technologies from four countries through our platform and chose one to move forward with.
Does this also apply to entrepreneurs or mid career professionals looking to start something new?
Absolutely. A lot of mid career professionals with corporate experience want to start their own venture, and instead of hiring PhD scientists and setting up a lab, they can in license a technology as their starting point for product market fit. University IP is often not expensive since universities just aim to cover research costs, and many even offer it free upfront with royalties paid only on success.
Where are you in your journey now and what are the next steps?
Our MVP was invite only for a few months, and this month we opened it up and signed up with LinkedIn so anyone can join. We're now talking to channel partners like trade bodies, banks, and government institutions since this is a niche industry that needs trusted partners on the ground. The platform is ready and we've shown success stories, so now it's time to scale through these partnerships.
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