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