Opportunity: Industrial Mathematics Internships from Industrial Mathematics KTN

The Knowledge Transfer Network for Industrial Mathematics has launched a new programme of Industrial Mathematics Internships. Each Internship is a collaboration between a host company, an Intern, and a research group within a university. This will allow companies and university research groups to promote direct knowledge exchange and develop long-term working relationships, through engaging a dedicated postgraduate researcher to work on a specific industrial project over a period of 3-6 months.

A pilot of 6 Internships will run between September 2007 and August 2008 and is jointly founded by EPSRC. Each Internship will last between 3 and 6 months and will be supported by one of the KTN’s Technology Translators. Apply through the Industrial Mathematics Internships website. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Policy input: Fast-track patent application process c/d 14 December 2007

The Gowers Report on Intellectual Property recommended that the UK Intellectual Property Office (formerly the Patent Office) provide new accelerated services for processing patent and trade mark applications. The Intellectual Property Office are now consulting on proposed new fast track services for patents and trade marks, both of which will be available to all applicants upon payment of a fee. The consultation document lists several questions that they would like you to answer one or more of, by email or post, including which of their fee structures proposed you'd prefer, and what you think the minimum period for filing third party observations on patent applications should be. The deadline for responses is 14 December 2007.

Event: GenSight Executive Seminar: Optimising Portfolio Management through Effective Project Selection, 29 November 2007

The theme of this day seminar at the Institute of Directors, London, will be how organisations can more strategically manage project portfolios to optimise constrained resources and achieve alignment with corporate goals. Attendees will leave this seminar with a wealth of stimulating ideas on how to enhance strategic alignment, flexibility, efficiency, risk reduction and value creation. Speakers will be addressing:

• How to achieve portfolio balance to deliver strategic goals.
• How to manage portfolio performance to reduce risk and increase value
• Resource planning and optimisation methods
• Enhanced governance
• Accelerating project throughput
• Enhancing information quality to improve project control

This event is free to attend, and is open to senior executives involved in New Product Development and R & D, Strategic Programme Management, Strategic Planning, Portfolio Management and Project Based Investment. To register, email terry.cummings@gensight.com with your name, job title, company details, phone number and that you saw details of the event on the R&D Society website.

R&D Society in the media: DIUS 2007 R&D Scoreboard

The annual R&D Scoreboard, produced for the first time by the new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, has just been published, with endorsement from the Research and Development Society.

It reports on the patterns and trends of the 850 largest corporate spenders of R&D in the UK and the 1,250 companies in the world most active in R&D in 2006, based on R&D expenditure reported in company accounts. It reports that the 850 UK firms spent almost £21 billion on R&D - a rise of 9 per cent. The 75 biggest firms increased their R&D spend by 12 per cent, in part due to the UK world-leading status in pharmaceutical R&D. This growth is mainly due to increases in the pharmaceuticals, fixed line telecommunications, and aerospace and defence and banking. These 75 firms account for two-thirds of the £21 billion spend, with the remaining 775 firms increasing R&D spend by only 3.4% compared with last year.

Figures for smaller firms show 95 more firms invested over £0.5m in R&D compared with last year, and invest more in R&D as a proportion of sales than their larger peers. Listed companies (ie those with shareholders) increased their R&D by 12.4% compared with a 0.9% increase for unlisted companies. The top UK sectors by R&D spend were pharmaceuticals, aerospace and defence, software, fixed line telecommunications, automobiles and banks. The sectors that saw the greatest increases in R&D expenditure were travel and leisure, fixed line telecommunications, mining, mobile telecommunications, household goods and banking.

Our event on 22 November 2007 will explore these issues and more. The Scoreboard is published for free on DIUS’s website.

Funding: Media Sandbox for South West England digital media R&D, c/d 29 Nov 2007

Media Sandbox is a new commissioning scheme to support South West companies/organisations to research emerging possibilities in digital media. It is looking to make six catalytic investments in innovative Research and Development pilots which exploit opportunities in digital media presented by pervasive computing/wireless technologies. The scheme is an entirely unique opportunity for SMEs to collaboratively create radical new products and processes – pushing forward understanding and potential usage of next generation digital media. Applicants must attend a collaborative ideas lab on 29 November 2007 in Bristol. The projects
must be innovative and Research and Development based, with at least one partner based in the South West of England.

R&D Society event: Investing in R&D: the how, where, when, and why , 22 November 2007

Why does R&D expenditure matter? How should executives manage their R&D investment? Should companies increase their R&D spending for greater returns? Should executives (and their company's shareholders) view R&D as an expense or an investment? With the recent publication of the 2007 UK R&D Scoreboard and the 2007 EU Scoreboards, which benchmark companies and countries on their R&D spend, Investing in R&D: the how, where, when, and why, seeks to draw out the key lessons from the scoreboards' tables, to celebrate companies that are leaders in their field, and to help companies understand why R&D expenditure matters.

Following an introduction from Mike Tubbs on the latest evidence for the links between R&D and business performance, a panel of senior executives from leading R&D-intensive UK companies will give their insights, including:

• Richard Longdon, Chief Executive, AVEVA
• Bill Stuart-Bruges, Development Director, Sondex
• Brent Vose, VP of Oncology in Development, AstraZeneca

Following the presentations, a panel and audience discussion will explore the how, where, when, and why of investing in R&D.

Doors open for registration and coffee at 6pm. The meeting starts at 6.30pm with a drinks reception at 8pm. Book by completing the online form and follow with payment online or by post. The meeting fee is £20 for R&D Society members and £40 for non-members, including refreshments and wine reception.

Funding: SPARK Award Call 2007, c/d 16 November 2007

The Electronics Enabled Products KTN, is pleased to announce a new call for SPARK awards aimed at building relationships between SMEs (Small to Medium sized Enterprises) and HEIs (Higher Education Institutes). The grants, which are of a fixed value of £5,000 each, will be awarded to the relevant HEI to tackle a problem of direct relevance to the SME. The grants aim to help the SME tackle a problem they are currently facing, and to lead to longer-term relationships between the educational institutes and the business community. Applications, which may be made online, are actively encouraged in the areas of design, development and manufacture of complex products with integrated electronic and mechanical function.

Opportunity: Exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2008, c/d 5 November 2007

The Royal Society is inviting proposals from commercial and academic organisiations for the 2008 Summer Science Exhibition, its most prestigious annual event. The exhibition attracts a great deal of media interest and is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your research to the public, post-16 and potential university students, scientists, policy makers, MPs, captains of industry, representatives from funding bodies and research councils, teachers and the wider scientific community. The 2008 Summer Science Exhibition will take place from 30 June - 3 July at the Royal Society in London. The Royal Society’s selection committee selects around 20-25 teams to share the excitement of their research with a wider audience. The Exhibition makes a significant contribution to the Society’s work in encouraging public engagement with science and promoting science education. The large number of post-16 students attending the Exhibition also gives exhibitors a unique opportunity to influence and enthuse potential university students about careers in science. Propose an exhibit via the Society's website by the closing date of 5 November 2007.

Opportunity: Queen's awards for Enterprise, Innovation, c/d 31 October 2007

Businesses can apply for The Queen's Awards for Enterprise in one or more of three categories - International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development. Individuals can be nominated for The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion, which recognises people who have played an outstanding and significant role in promoting the growth of enterprise and/or entrepreneurial skills and attitudes in others. The closing date for applications, which can be made online, is midnight on 31 October 2007. Corporate member De La Rue received the Queen's Awards for Enterprise: Innovation 2007, for its StarChromeTM wide windowed optically variable banknote security thread.

R&D Society event: How important is R&D? with David Edgerton, 30 October 2007

R&D Society event: One of the great problems we have with science and technology is that elite discussion (let alone public understanding) is based on sometimes dubious assumptions rather than on the basis of evidence. A good example is the underlying assumption that national R&D spending correlates with national rates of economic growth. It does not, as I will show. But this is not an argument for the unimportance of R&D. Rather it suggests that R&D must be thought about in less nationalistic ways, for which there are other compelling reasons. Avoiding the naïve economics of R&D is essential to good policies for R&D. At the same time we need to recognise more clearly that doing R&D is far from the only way of changing either the world, or the performance of the British economy.

Speaker: David Edgerton, Hans Rausing Professor at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, Imperial College London.

Doors open for registration and coffee at 6pm. The meeting starts at 6.30pm with a drinks reception at 8pm. Book by completing the online form and follow with payment online or by post. The meeting fee is £20 for R&D Society members and £40 for non-members, including refreshments and wine reception.

Opportunity: Non-Executive Member of Operating Committee, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, c/d 27 October 2007

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) is the government department responsible for productivity, business relations, energy and fair markets, and enterprise. The Operating Committee decides on BERR's operational activities - its processes and resources relating to people, planning, financial management, communication, project management, IT and property. BERR is seeking to appoint a new member of the Operating Committee, to provide 8-10 days support per year over the course of three years.

R&D Society in the media: Comment on Microsoft Startup Accelerator Programme

Microsoft has launched a Startup Accelerator Programme for UK businesses, which will offer technical and commercial support to technology start-ups. Microsoft will provide bespoke non-financial support including software development resources, training, access to new Microsoft technologies.

For an article in the 4 October 2007 issue of IT Week, Martyn Buxton-Hoare of the Research and Development Society commented:

Many technology start-ups find it difficult to get the level of investment that's between that provided by friends, family, seed funds and business angels for proof-of-concept, and the level of funding offered by venture capitalists for large-scale development. So any new funding sources of £300k - £1.5M, or anything that would would encourage that level of investment, is welcome.

Start-ups with a web business model often aren't as well protected by patents as other technology companies, and are seen by investors as being at risk from copycats. If a corporate partner with muscle lends its name and reputation to the start-up, that will help reassure those investors, so attracting funding and deterring copycats.

Event: Innovation Forum: Walking the talk: increasing innovation in the media sector, 11 October 2007

At this event we will bring together thinkers and doers from the media sector and beyond to look at the established and potential models for innovation in media, from traditional technology R&D to corporate development units; collaboration with universities and third parties to industry fora and consortia; design- and user-led-development to open innovation. We will review past revolutions in industry to better understand how innovation relates to broader dynamics in business and society. And we will consider contemporary barriers to innovation in the media sector, highlight best practice, give examples of success, point up areas of failure, and identify possible ways to increase innovation in media. The panelists are R&D Society member Dr Norman Lewis, Wireless Grids Corporation; Rachel Jones, Instrata Limited; Professor David Edgerton, Imperial College London (also speaking at the R&D Society on 30 October); Frank Boyd, Unexpected Media; and Lorenzo Wood, LBI International. Further details and booking information can be found on the event page.

Survey: Research and Development management, by Sensors & Instrumentation Knowledge Transfer Network (SIKTN)

The Sensors & Instrumentation Knowledge Transfer Network (SIKTN) is carrying out a small survey into Research and Development management by leading UK organisations. The survey, run by Qi3, is centred around the size and nature of spending on research and development and the extent to which partnering and outsourcing are used to further R&D aims. Complete the short survey to receive a copy of the results.

Event: University of Cambridge Horizon Seminar: Energy in Cities, 10 October 2007

Full programme details will be announced shortly. For more information, see the Horizon website. Confirmed speakers include:

• Professor Peter Guthrie, Department of Engineering
• Professor Marcial Echenique, Department of Architecture
• Professor Gehan Amaratunga, Department of Engineering

Events: Chinese and Japanese Innovation, 2 and 3 October 2007

Two events from the Asia Pacific Technology Network:

• How Chinese Cost Innovation Is Disrupting Global Competition, London: 2 October 2007
  Professor Peter Williamson, (Judge Institute of Management Studies, Cambridge) argues that the most innovative Chinese companies are leveraging their cheap-labour advantage, and Western companies which decide to re-focus on high-margin, specialist sectors are leaving themselves open to attack. John Frieslaar, Consultant - CTO Office Huawei Technologies (UK) Co will comment from the perspective of one of the companies under discusion.
• Industry-Academia Collaboration in Japan : The Search for Innovation, London: 3 October 2007, with Dr Katsuhiko Yamashita, Chief Fellow, Corporate Technology Planning Division, Toshiba, Professor Sandro Macchietto, Professor of Process Systems Engineering at Imperial College London and founder of Process Systems Enterprise Ltd

Policy input: Government (DBERR): Simplifying Business Support c/d 14 Sep 2007

Government wants to simplify the £2.5BN business support in England from around 3000 schemes to no more than 100 by 2010. The Simplifying Business Support consultation outlines and seeks views on the business support government might fund in the future. The majority of the questions posed are of general interest to all businesses. Of specific R&D relevance is that

1. The government is proposing that all business support it offers is in one of six themes, one of which is "Product development", which includes Connection with
   knowledge institutions; Innovation collaborations; Innovation guidance and advice; and, Innovation finance.
   
2. The consultation asks several questions about whether the business support themes are the right themes, whether they adequately covers the key needs of business, and what publicly-funded business support is the highest priority?

Full details, including how to respond, are available at the Simplifying Business Support consultation website. As with all consultations, you do not need to answer all the questions listed when responding.

Funding: RCUK Business Plan Competition, cd 14 Sep 2007

The Research Councils UK (RCUK) Business Plan Competition provides researchers who have ideas with commercial potential the skills, knowledge and support needed to develop a first-rate business plan. This is provided through expert trainers, coaches and mentors.

The competition is open to researchers based in UK Higher Education Institutions or Public Sector Research Establishments that are eligible to hold Research Council grants from across the whole spectrum of academic research within the remit of the seven Research Councils – from the arts and biosciences, to environmental physical and social sciences to technology.

Postgraduates, postdocs and academic staff who have a business idea arising from research and want to develop this further are encouraged to participate. Prizes of up to £25,000 will be awarded to the business plans judged to have the best potential to help turn business ideas into reality. Closing date 14 September 2007.

Member news: The Queen's Awards for Enterprise: Innovation 2007

Congratulations to Corporate Member De La Rue for receiving the Queen's Awards for Enterprise: Innovation 2007, for its StarChromeTM wide windowed optically variable banknote security thread.

Policy input: Royal Society - Synthetic biology: call for views, cd 27 August 2007

The Royal Society is seeking views on the emerging area of synthetic biology, to shape the focus of the Royal Society's policy future work in this important area.

Synthetic biology is an emerging area of research that can broadly be described as the design and construction of novel artificial biological pathways, organisms or devices, or the redesign of existing natural biological systems. Synthetic biology has the potential to lead to a wide range of useful applications, but it also raises a number of uncertainties including its possible impact on society, regulation and ownership, sharing and innovation frameworks (including intellectual property).

To contribute to the Royal Society's study, consult the instructions on the Royal Society website.

Survey: University use of IT for business engagement

AURIL and JISC, the Joint Information Systems Committee, ask that Knowledge Transfer/Exchange practitioners in UK universities complete a short survey into the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in the Business and Community Engagement (which includes knowledge transfer, work-based learning, community links) activities being carried out in UK universities and colleges.

Policy input: Office of Science and Innovation’s Horizon Scanning Centre: Wider Implications of Science and Technology c/d 13 Aug 2007

The Government's Horizon Scanning Centre is undertaking a survey to help it prepare better for the future by identifying the implications (both opportunities and risks) of new and emerging areas of science and technology. The survey is wide ranging both in terms of the technologies covered, and in the type of issues that they might raise (safety, health, ethical, environmental etc.). Closing date for participation: 13 August 2007.