The University of Cambridge enjoys a long-lasting reputation as one of the best Universities in the world. Also, its Collegiate system is sometimes looked upon as a picturesque tradition where students and professors alike indulge in pompous gown-dressing and self-celebrational formal dinners rivalling a set from a Harry Potter movie. The goal of this presentation is to elucidate, through my personal experience and career, that these two aspects are intimately connected. It is not the technical preparation per se in any discipline that makes up for the University’s excellence, but it is rather the entire multi-disciplinary and multi-professional ecosystem that accounts for the crucial skills that emerging academics shall find in high demand, both in the large- and small-corporate world.
I will briefly review the science and research that has led me from an initial academic career to later work in a large corporation (Nokia), and ultimately to be among the founders of a small high-tech start-up (Emberion). But rather that lingering on the sparkly yet uninformative curriculum that inevitably builds-up after several years of endeavours, I will concentrate on extracting the real hidden achievements that can truly demonstrate an individual’s value for the liberal business. How pivotal skills are built and accumulated, whether by necessity or by chance, and how their relevance is often overlooked or forgotten, will hopefully be an instructive and inspirational discussion. We will then be one step forward in cornering an all too familiar enemy, i.e., the disturbing feeling of walking through closing doors, looking down to a paper degree, while voicing the dreaded words: Now What?

Dr Alan Colli is a Principal Engineer at Emberion Ltd, Cambridge, a company spun off from Nokia to accelerate the development and commercialization of graphene photodetectors. He actively collaborates with the Cambridge Graphene Centre at the Department of Engineering and, more broadly, with several partners in the European Graphene Flagship project (specifically, the Optoelectronics and Wafer-scale Integration work packages). Dr Colli studied at the University of Trieste (Italy) where he graduated in Physics. He undertook his postgraduate studies at Cambridge in the Department of Engineering and was awarded a PhD in October 2008. He is presently a Fellow and Tutor at St. Edmund’s College. Dr Colli has extensive experience in technology transfer and intellectual property, having filed more than 30 patent applications. Over the years, his work touched on a number of multidisciplinary topics, from nanostructures and electronic devices, to machine learning and biosensors. In recognition of his achievements, Dr Colli was presented the Young Scientist Award of the European Materials Research Society in 2006 and won the Nokia Innovation and Excellence Award in 2009.