Founded in 2001, Akubio Ltd. is one company seeking to tap the commercial potential of acoustic detection technology in drug discovery and development, as well as diagnostics. The company's Rupture Event Scanning (REVS) and Resonant Acoustic Profiling (RAP) platforms can be used to detect not only large molecules like viruses and bacterial cells, but also small molecule drugs, proteins or oligonucleotides. As well as being simpler, faster and cheaper than other detection technologies such as PCR and ELISA, Akubio's platforms can also generate information on the binding affinities and kinetics of molecules' interactions with their receptors.

After years of technology transfer underfunding, Cambridge University is now one of the most successful technology transfer institutes in the UK, holding equity stakes in more than 30 spin-outs and over 220 different patent families.