Tony Hickson is the Chief Business Officer for Cancer Research UK. He leads the Commercial Partnerships team responsible for the commercialisation of IP from CRUK funded projects, new start-up creation, licences, and corporate alliances. Prior to this Tony was the Managing Director of Imperial Innovations Ltd, responsible for intellectual property sourcing, licensing, and spin-out creation for technologies arising from Imperial College London.

During this tenure, Tony also spent 5 years as an executive director on the board of Touchstone Innovations PLC, an investment company listed on the London Stock exchange investing in deep science projects from UK universities. Prior to joining Imperial Innovations/Touchstone, Tony has 15 years of commercial and business development experience in bioscience companies including Wellcome Group R&D, Murex Biotech, Abbott Laboratories, and Kalibrant Limited.