Advancing New Businesses in Australia and New Zealand
The Outer Light was established on Fingal Island in 1862. As one of 11 lighthouses between Sydney and Byron Bay, it helps protect the increasing level of shipping along the New South Wales coast.
Likewise, Lionel Henderson established Fingal Hill Consulting to assist Australian companies to avoid the pitfalls associated with the technology transfer and commercialization of new intellectual property.
About Our Founder
Lionel Henderson started his commercialization career over 30 years ago, and one of the first products he commercialized (an insect growth regulator for fruit trees) is still on the market today.
That first product made Lionel aware of the need to develop each product strategy differently, according to an ongoing assessment of its own attributes and the prevailing market forces.
Following its launch, he also experienced the downside of the legal aspects of product licensing – following a global restructuring, the “change in control” clauses in the license resulted in the originators reclaiming the product once all the hard work had been done!
Lionel was a Director of Business Development and Commercial with CSIRO for 17 years. During that time, he developed the framework for several research alliances and collaboration frameworks, including public–private partnerships, and he managed CSIRO’s involvement in multiple CRCs.
Lionel assisted in the establishment of seven spin-out companies across a range of life science technologies. He also managed the licensing for a range of CSIRO’s technologies domestically and internationally, and was based in the US in 2018.
Lionel has also been a member and Chair of several external committees for CSIRO.
Before joining CSIRO, Lionel managed a horticultural biotechnology company for 10 years. That company had a significant international business and large intellectual property and license portfolio.
Lionel is an experienced Company Director, having been a Director or Company Secretary for several CSIRO joint ventures since 2004. He is currently a director of several food industry companies and is a member of the Science Advisory Board for a synthetic biology company.
Lionel is on the board of a national children’s charity and is currently Chair of its Finance, Audit, and Risk Committee.