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.