New interim CEO for Edinburgh Innovations

Edinburgh Innovations has announced a new interim CEO, following the news of Dr George Baxter’s departure to the University of California, Davis. 

Edinburgh Innovations (EI) is the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service.  

Dr Andrea Taylor, currently Director of the Strategic Partnerships Team at EI, will step into Dr Baxter’s shoes from the end of March. 

Dr Taylor, who has led the University into high-profile partnerships such as NEURii, to tackle dementia, or beLAB1407, to advance drug discovery, said: 

I am delighted to take on the opportunity of interim CEO of Edinburgh Innovations. We have a fantastic team at EI that has already supported the University to achieve record levels of innovation and commercialisation under the leadership of George Baxter. Innovation and entrepreneurship have never been a more integrated part of the University, and the opportunities for multi-stakeholder engagement and partnership are greater than ever. Along with the support of the whole leadership team, I will be looking ahead to capitalise on significant opportunities across the innovation landscape.

Dr Baxter will take up a new role as Chief Innovation and Economic Development Officer at the University of California, Davis. 

Since he joined as CEO in 2016, EI has helped the University grow its industrial and translational research income from £10m to almost £92m, a quarter of its overall research income, and EI has grown from 50 people to over 170. Last year, 123 companies were launched, and £107.6m was invested into the University’s portfolio via our in-house venture investment team, Old College Capital. 

I am extremely proud of how EI has grown and of the fantastic work the team does every day to enable innovation and impact at the University, which contributes to us meeting global challenges in the most pressing areas of climate, future health and data and AI for good. As Andrea said, it’s fantastic to see the role of innovation and entrepreneurship continuing to grow and embed at the University, and I very much look forward to seeing the impacts that will be achieved over the years to come.