Question

10. You recently joined an AI (artificial intelligence) spin-out that has been launched by PhD students of the University of Oxford. The company has developed a range of proprietary algorithms that allow it to locate the source of malaria outbreaks, and predict the pace of the spread and the duration of the outbreak. The project has received public funding in the form of a research grant, but the funds may run out before the product is market ready. A new research grant application would delay the launch for 12 months but it is highly likely that the grant application will be successful. After the company has received some press coverage an off-shore based venture capital firm offers a much needed immediate cash injection in exchange for shares of the company.

a) You are tasked to make the final decision on whether to accept or reject the offer from the venture capital firm. Discuss how you reached your decision.

b) Discuss the short-term and long-term implications of your decision on the common good in the UK and globally.

Answer 1

A)I will be making the decision in favour of accepting the offer from the venture capital firm because it will be helping the company in order to survive and sustain in the long run and it will be helping the the product to be market ready also so this kind of venture capitalist firm should be allowed even if it is an offshore fund which is exchanging the the fund for equity of the company and it will also mean that the venture capitalist will be having a ownership stake into the company and they will be influencing the decision making capability of the company.

So, I will still be accepting the cash injection from the venture capitalist because it will help the company in order to meet with the immediate cash demand and it will also help in Survival and sustainability of the company in order to roll out this product so I will always be trying to accept the the venture capitalist funding rather than going for acceptance of a research grant even if the money of the public is invested into it, I will be trying to keep the ownership within the the United Kingdom and I will be try to make maximum out of the experience and expertise of venture capitalist.

B) Short term and long term implication of my decision on the common good in United Kingdom will be mostly related to welfare of the human society as it will be helping the the society in order to locate the source of the malaria outbreak and it will also help in predicting the face of the spread and duration of the outbreak so the sooner the project is ready, the better it will be for the overall United Kingdom and global tribes because it will be helping the people all across the globe in order to counter this kind of malarial outbreaks.

In long run, it will also help the United Kingdom people and global people to be able to proactively detect any kind of malarial outbreak and contain the pace of spread and duration of outbreak, so this kind of innovation in respect to containment of a lethal disease will be very helpful and it will help the common people in order to be aware and fight through all these turbulent diseases.