R&D Society: Government must maintain support for all areas of UK R&D, from academia to business

In response to Vince Cable’s Science, Research and Innovation speech of 8 September 2010, Sir Richard Sykes, President of the R&D Society comments:

The Government must maintain the support of UK R&D - from academia to businesses large and small - if we are to prosper financially and socially in future. This includes maintaining investment in our world-class science base to attract investment and people from all over the world, and finding ways of encouraging businesses and academia to work together effectively.

Vince Cable asks how to encourage academics to collaborate with industry to maximise the benefit of their research. Universities cannot simply increase the commercial viability of their research by turning on a tap. They need encouragement and support to do so – but they also need businesses who are willing, able and capable of working with them. For academic-business links to succeed, businesses need encouragement too, especially now, when many are having to focus on short-term survival in place of longer-term, R&D-based investment. The commercial R&D sector has been under severe pressure in this recession, and we have seen several commercial R&D labs close or scale back in the UK over the past year.

Though Vince Cable did mention support for the Small Business Research Initiative, he omits to discuss how business might be encouraged to work with academia – for example R&D tax credits, networking support, skills transfer schemes. Businesses want to get on with their job in hand, so Government must be a supporting catalyst, not prescriptive – a midwife, not a nanny. This should not happen at the expense of support for business-business knowledge transfer - the Cinderella largely ignored by successive Governments, but one that powers much of UK innovation, especially around smaller enterprises.

The UK is an attractive place to do R&D, and Vince Cable is rightly proud that many multinational companies locate their R&D operations in the UK. But they will only do so whilst it is in their best interests to. Businesses have told the R&D Society about many different reasons why they choose the UK, and one of the most important is the high quality of UK universities. This provides local access to world-class research, and a regular supply of skilled graduates. We are very worried at the cuts to UK science hinted at in Vince Cable’s speech will have the double whammy of reducing the research and teaching capacity of UK universities and discouraging students from studying research-relevant subjects – resulting in more top performing graduates "heading straight for high finance rather than science and engineering", as Mr Cable laments. In order to maintain the flow of ideas to wealth in the long term, a broad portfolio of high-class 'basic' research must be maintained as the fruits of the future.

R&D Society in the media: Royal Society "A higher degree of concern" report published

On 31 January 2008, the Royal Society published A higher degree of concern, the second and final phase of a project examining STEM higher education in the UK. It makes recommendations regarding how UK STEM higher education can remain fit for purpose into the middle of the next decade and beyond.

To enable organisations to submit evidence to the Royal Society's study, the Research and Development Society conducted a web-based survey of our members and contacts of the current and future needs of employers in science-based industries. The survey report, Higher Education in 2015 and beyond: will it meet our needs? is available for download for free from the R&D Society website.

One of the key findings of our survey was that respondents had no clear way of communicating their needs course curriculum organisers, but wanted to be able to. The Royal Society report (page 3) notes "emphasis needs to be placed on a collaborative approach to learning provision that ensures that businesses and other employers are engaged in curriculum development, course design and delivery."

The full report. A higher degree of concern, and a short executive summary, are available to download from the Royal Society website.

Funding: NERC Knowledge Transfer Call, c/d 4 March 2008

NERC is inviting applications for the first round of the 2008 Knowledge Transfer Call, with a closing date of 4 March (4pm). The KT Call helps maximise the transfer of knowledge, people, skills and expertise between the UK's research base and the user community (public and private sector organisations). The Call is flexible, to cater for the many types of knowledge flow. The next round will have a closing date of 5 August. The KT Call is open to applicants based in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), NERC Research and Collaborative Centres, and Independent Research Organisations (IROs) approved by NERC. Applications should fall within the NERC science remit. Examples of networks which have been funded through the Knowledge Transfer Call, to exchange ideas and knowledge between the science and user communities are on the NERC website.

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.

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.