Innovation through Knowledge Transfer 2012

Day 1

After a brief Welcome to the Conference from Sir Brian Fender President of the IKT and Prof Jim Roach from Bournemouth University, we listened to Dr Piero P. Bonissone from Chief Scientist GE Global Research describing how increasingly large corporates are crowd sourcing predictive modelling challenges and that this is changing the role of corporate research centres to how best to articulate technical problems rather than solving them directly. It is also raising the scope of the modelling of sensor data from components through product to systems and finally organisational performance. coupling physical data to economic impact.

KTP2011 – Glasgow 1-2 December 2011

Firstly, a massive thanks to Alastair Cameron and his team for being perfect hosts for the Conference, not sure how it could have been better in any aspect.

For those that are not familiar with Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP), they are simply the best way for businesses to engage with Universities to transfer knowledge which enables the business to innovate and make a step change in their performance. At the heart of each partnership is an Associate (a top class graduate with relevant expertise and experience) who works in the business to implement a robust work plan supported by academic and company supervisors. I could wax lyrical about KTPs for hours but if you want to know more go to KTP Online.

So to Glasgow, The conference was hosted by the West of Scotland KTP Centre and its programme of workshops put together by the KTP National Forum with a great deal of consultation with KTP teams throughout the country.

Three takeaway thoughts/actions from the conference:

1. Keep demonstrating that demand for KTP is high in both the academic and business communities. The changes arising from the CSR last year have meant less funding for KTP…Teesside University and many others have been quick to develop alternatives to KTP which fill the gaps left by the withdrawal of sKTP and reduction in the number of fundable partnerships. Whilst this helps to keep levels of knowledge transfer up, it has the effect of reducing apparent demand for KTP. Our challenge this year is to manage expectations from business, whilst showing that there is demand for KTP if extra funding can be secured.
2. In the workshop – The Strategic Direction of KTP – Phil Fiddaman and Emma Hewitt gave us an opportunity to feed into the new KTP strategy due to be published in April 2012. We undertook a Stakeholder Analysis for KTP and debated whether TSB should fund KTP at all. In absence of any such funding, KT would still carry on however it would be an increasingly Global Activity with Universities working with businesses in a strictly commercial arrangement. The evidence from Tech Transfer deals I have been involved in is that these deals will mainly involve non UK businesses, inevitably this would harm the competitiveness of UK PLC in the medium term. The fact remains that there is a public sector cash flow crisis and without a major U turn in government policy the prospects of being able to achieve the ambitions set out by the Sainsbury Review and further urged by Richard Lambert look remote. If public funding is at a premium, then it was suggested that Private Sector Financial Institutions might be approached to contribute to the KTP Program perhaps in the Social Enterprise sector and levering Regional Growth Fund. Santander has already introduced a £200m ‘fast growth’ investment fund which includes £50m of RGF.
3. Iain Gray’s strong message that KTP was now a fundamental part of the TSB portfolio was very welcome and I for one look forward to reshaping our KT support team to ensure that we are able to promote the full range TSB funding and KTN opportunities.

Many thanks to Kathryn Burchell from Loughborough University for helping me with our Social Media workshop which was well attended and also benefited from Rob Walsh who outlined power of the _Connect Platform..

Crouch, Read And Ponder

Reading on the Loo

The above tweet from @ClaireDonlan got me thinking. Here is why I enjoy reading on the Loo:

• Escapism, no interruptions!
• Random reading material, I rely on others to stock the bathroom magazine rack
• Relaxing…passes the time of day.

So today’s read was The University of Sheffield’s Undergraduate prospective. I opened it at random, page 82-83 as it happens……

Lost of White Space

What struck me was that there was an awful lot of unused white space in their allocated space in the prospectus.

I am a great fan of the “Less is More” School of Visual Graphics but flicking through the rest of the publication it was clear that this was not house style.

The text intriguingly has a reference to Mature Students and this makes me think that none traditional students may make up a larger than average part of this subject group’s intake, therefore the Prospectus may not be a key part of the promotional mix for this segment of the market. So they have put the basic info up and concentrated on promotion through other channels.

Are there difficulties in getting suitable pictures…restrictions around photos showing schoolchildren etc.?

Anyway all or none of the above may be true, but I keep coming back to my first thought that somewhere in the department, an underpaid and overworked administrator has on their desktop a piece of paper or email saying….

“Please submit requests for promotional photographs for the 2012 prospectus to Marketing department by xx/xx/2011”

These are a few of my favourite things – part 1 Art

Over the last few years I have bought a number of pieces of Art, not quite in the Fabio Capello league, just a few modest purchases.

One day in Richmond  (North Yorks) a few years ago, we were browsing in a Gallery on Finkle Gate and came across a collection of paintings by Ed Kluz, they featured local cultural heritage locations such as Abbey and Castles.  I was attracted to the detail in the pictures which also had a mystical slightly unworldly overall image. This BBC article features his work at that time and the picture below is a good example.

Fountains Abbey - Ed Kluz

In the same gallery at other times I have bought pictures by Ian Murray who is currently “Mine Host” at the Black Bull, Dewsbury. These include a Tulip in the style of this Triptych. He layers paint in such a way that the flowers are almost in 3D.

Example of Ian Murray's Work

A day out at the Biscuit Factory introduced me the amazing work of printmaker Anja Percival. The difficult thing was choosing which print to buy, after much indecision eventually bought “Bridge I” which features the Tyne Bridge reflected off the Sage Gateshead.

Bridge I Anja Percival

It is nearly time for the Gateshead Art Society Exhibition at the Shipley Gallery, always a good place to pick up a painting for Xmas. Personally I look out for Jenny Dyson’s work.

Finally, have just bought “The Decline of Industry” by Julie MacBean

The Decline of Industry - Julie MacBean

Julie is a Teesside University Fine Arts Graduate and currently has a solo exhibition in the Constantine Gallery at Teesside University. This picture features and I love it. Look forward to more work from her in the future.

(Belated) Holiday Roundup

A quick update with holiday news and pictures. Not for us the sun of foreign climes. This year we chose to combine a luxury city break with Cotswold countryside and a blast from the past (for us), Malvern.

So that is why we found ourselves in Birmingham during the looting spree and next to the prime target of Harvey Nicks in  The Mailbox. We chose to stay at Malmaison Birmingham, having spent a short break there before. If you haven’t been, treat yourself the rooms are amazing and the cocktails are great. Even the presence of Looters and Riot Police outside the entrance failed to spoil the stay.

Earlier in the day. Claire and I had been round the City Museum and Art Gallery which had some a classic Lowry City Scene and a wide range of 20th Century Art, by Ben Nicholson and other St Ives Artists. We also went to the Botanical Gardens which were a really relaxing oasis in an otherwise busy city.

The main square in the city had an Antony Gormley piece and was taken over by the ECB and Nat West promoting cricket ahead of the 3rd test starting later in the week at Edgbaston.

Leaving Birmingham to the brilliant #Riotcleanup volunteers, we drove to Bletchley Park, historic site of secret British codebreaking activities in WWII and birthplace of the modern computer. Bit of a homage for us, the best part of it is that it is not fully restored and some of the huts don’t appear to have changed, even the cafe had a very dated rations era feel to it….Sorry if that is not intentional. The shear scale of the activity there and the complexity of the task they took on is awe inspiring and it demonstrated that wars are not just about who has the biggest guns and bravest soldiers, Brains and Brawn ultimately provided the crucial advantage. It also demonstrates that “necessity is the mother of invention” and that defence spending can have amazing civilian consequences.

I like this picture of me checking this fella’s sums

Just checking those Sums

From there we drove the short distance to Moreton in Marsh where there were no riots and life seemed to go on pretty much oblivious to the news headlines. The biggest change we could determine was that the ASK restaurant was now an ASK Italian restaurant.

Next day we visited Hidcote Manor Gardens  a beautiful National Trust property. It was the life’s passion of one man, self-taught gardener Lawrence Johnston who created his ‘garden of rooms‘ here. Highlight for me was the Wilderness Garden and some metal sculptures of Wild Boar and other animals.

Next stop Ragley Hall home to The Jerwood Sculpture Collection the highlight for me was this Peter Hayes work “Bench”

Peter Hayes - Bench

Moved on from here to Malvern where we had a relaxing night at the Abbey Hotel which has undergone some major modernisation since our last visit.

Red sky at night……

Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight…red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning! This was the view out of the window last night, so went to bed optimistic for a good day today. Something went wrong and had a stressy day firefighting.

KTP Gathering London

One of the first rules of a business meeting is to have an Agenda, as I type I am sitting on a train travelling over 2 hours to London to a Workshop/Event in London organised by the Technology Strategy Board’s KTP Programme Team. I am not alone on this train there are at least 3 others, asking around none of us have seen an agenda. I estimate in total 125+ attendees nationwide are making their way to Knightsbridge. This got me thinking, why is it that we are all prepared to dedicate a day to this activity? We all have plenty to fill our days in our Universities. I am in the process putting patent applications together, have 2 major potential consultancy opportunities to work up and a myriad of other activities.

It must be the sheer love of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships as a means of working effectively with business and a belief (faith) some would say “blind faith”, that as a community of KT professionals we have, collectively, a wealth of experience which could and should inform (not dictate) the strategic direction of the Programme in these difficult times.

So here’s hoping agenda free means that this will be a very open and constructive day. #LoveKTP