Government to support business-university collaborations
4 Feb 2015
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) has announced a call for evidence to enable government to support the development of more effective collaborations between UK businesses and universities.
Ann Dowling, president of the RAE, has been asked by the minister for Universities, Science and Cities, Greg Clark, to lead a review examining how government can support the development of improved relationships between UK businesses and UK university researchers.
The aim of the review is to help businesses and academia to better understand each other’s needs, interests and constraints and to develop trusting relationships which will allow them to share long-term strategic plans, an RAE statement said.
The findings will advise government on the best course of action to foster these collaborations between industry and academia, the RAE said.
“I am delighted that government is committed to improving the relationships between UK businesses and its outstanding university research capabilities and honoured to be leading this important review,” Dowling said.
“University researchers can be inspired by areas or developments that would make a long term difference to a particular company or sector, leading to challenging and innovative research. This in turn can give industry the confidence to invest more in UK research and facilitate the flow of innovation between academic researchers and industry.
“Some companies already foster such long term strategic relationships with academia and derive substantial benefits from them. We want to understand the barriers for others and make concrete recommendations about how they can be overcome to deliver broad benefits to the UK in the long term.”
Dowling said that the RAE is looking to hear from individuals and organisations that are involved in business-academia collaborations and the successes and challenges that they have faced in building productive ongoing relationships.
“But we also want to hear from those who did not succeed,” Dowling said.
“To make a parallel with the world of research, a negative result is still a very valuable result and will be essential in generating a comprehensive body of evidence.”
Those interested can submit evidence via the RAE website.
