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PRACTICAL TECH TRANSFER ADVICE
Supporting the “Special Relationship” Between Research and Industry
PRACTICAL ADVICE
By Tamsin Mann, Policy Officer, PraxisUnico The U.K. hosts 0.9% of the world’s population, but is second only to the U.S. in the number of top 40 universities that it boasts, and the U.K. also punches above its weight with 15.9% of the world’s most highly-cited articles and 11.6% of research citations globally1. U.K. research partners have a strong track record in active and productive collaborations with the U.S., and the reasons for business to engage with public sector research establishments and universities are clear. As identified in the CBI report Best of Both Worlds, benefits include reducing cost and risk for businesses; access to new ideas and horizon scanning, together with supporting the development of research skills, capability and profile2. There are over 50 public sector research establishments (PSREs) and 163 universities in the U.K., with a diverse range of interests, strengths and structures within that sector. This diversity is entirely appropriate when one considers that PSREs range from the Natural History Museum to the Met Office, and universities range from such specialists as the Glasgow School of Art through to the University of Cambridge, with over 800 years of heritage in which to establish experience, reputation and connections. This can make engaging with organizations in this sector of the innovation landscape seem more of a challenge. Delegates on PraxisUnico’s Developing Strategic Partnerships course, which trains Knowledge Exchange and Commercialization (KEC) professionals in how to manage long-term complex relationships with external organizations, have identified over 30 different ways in which businesses can engage with universities and research bodies. Without a ‘guide’ the process of engagement is much harder, and can feel overwhelming – and that is before the issue of differing motivations driving academic and industry priorities enters the equation. This is where KEC professionals can come to the rescue as they play a valuable role in assisting industry to establish a positive grounding for a fruitful relationship. Through their expertise they are able to identify the most appropriate routes, contacts, and mechanisms for success. In the U.S., “technology transfer” is a well-known and wellrecognized term. KEC is much wider than just technology transfer and represents a longer process of engagement; from events, to continuing professional development, through contract and collaborative research, to commercialization and enterprise. In the U.K. there are very few dedicated university technology transfer offices as most universities
combine research and commercialization administration under ‘Research & Enterprise’, or similar names. Large organizations with dedicated commercialization arms tend to have names such as “Cambridge Enterprise”,”Imperial Innovations”, “Isis Innovations”, or “UCL Business”. Whereas, in the U.S., Stanford has an “Office of Technology Licensing”, a name that is virtually unheard of in the U.K. where “innovation” or “enterprise” tends to be front and center. The professionally skilled KEC professionals working in these offices are often the unsung heroes working behind the scenes on many collaborative and commercial successes. They work to facilitate relationships and collaborations that take into account and reconcile the aims of both academic and commercial interests, to expedite processes and set a strategic approach. They have expert knowledge of funding and legal requirements for the treatment of intellectual property, many having come from industry or with research backgrounds themselves. KEC professionals are particularly important as a research partnership is a people business, often underpinned by legal frameworks and agreements, and involving financial transactions. Collaboration is not just about money and, as a two-way process with industry, knowledge exchange needs to facilitate that collaboration as equal partners. Knowledge exchange and commercialization professionals work to establish that footing, adding significant value through their specific know-how and experience of handling the cultural drivers of both business and academia. Long-term relationships benefit from several points of engagement between organizations, where activities may move at a different pace, but ultimately support the same overall goal(s). For example, a company may ultimately be interested in longterm research collaboration but they could start with contract research, and then additionally build in student recruitment. This engagement should be supported by long-term relationship management to support and sustain dialogue and, over time, build links and trust both within and across organizations. A good example of how KEC in the U.K. is becoming more integrated in collaborations is the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME) at Coventry University, which was recognized in the PraxisUnico and Research Council UK’s “Impact Awards for KEC Professionals.” Coventry University developed the U.K.’s first “faculty on the factory floor” by partnering with local employer Unipart to set up a brand new state-of-the-art building on the Unipart manufacturing site to provide students and researchers access to numerous technologies, as well as metrology and material testing, and characterization laboratories.
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