The Points Made by the Orange Group Included

SKEO Working Group 2nd April 2012

Discussion Groups Thoughts

As part of the first meeting of the SKEO working group the attendees split into two groups to discuss the key issues of concern when developing a SKEO as well as what should be protected and integrated in to a future structure. The group’s thoughts are presented below.

The points made by the Orange Group included:

Reflection of the broad context

We are in a window of opportunity. Research pooling and other developments have demonstrated that collaborative approaches can offer innovative solutions to strategic challenges.
There is a broader move to align KE interventions. Scottish Enterprise (SEn), Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and SFC are working to align their investments and are taking forward new, joint projects in Innovation Centres and Follow-on Innovation Vouchers.
The sector and public agencies have done much in recent times to come together to secure opportunities at the UK level. This has perhaps been less pronounced in securing European and other international opportunities.

Addressing complexity

The landscape is complex. There is complexity in the number and types of innovation support mechanisms and there is also complexity in the business base.
Even when narrowed to the community of businesses that have the potential to benefit to engage with universities, there is a community of several thousand organisations each with their own identity and affiliations. Business associations are an important conduit to engaging with these complex communities. It should also be noted that any businesses’ innovation needs will be varied and, over time, are unlikely to be wholly confined to one academic discipline.

What could be enhanced?

What is the natural first step for a business enquiry now? What c/should it be? How can a company know who to speak to toidentify and meet their needs and how will they know whether they are accessing the best advice?
At the moment SEn / HIE or Interface would be the most likely agencies to turn to for impartial advice and business will possibly more often access the advice of friends and colleagues.
When business – university links are established they rest on personal relationships. Whilst the movement of people is may be beneficial, regular changes in university KEOs can undermine these longer term relationships.
One route to addressing complexity might be aggregations of support and activity on industry groupings. However it should be noted that there are disciplines that can impact across industry groups eg. enabling technologies or chemical sciences.
The sector must always seek to meet demand rather than to try and reshape or direct it.
Collaboration may offer a route to a better managed environment for innovation: easy access IP, consistency in contracts (perhaps use Lambert agreements).

The points made by the Green Group included:

Considerable progress has been made by HEIs concerning “easy access IP” but HEIs must be able to exercise their judgement and not be expected to give everything away to business;
There is a common appreciation amongst HEIs that the outcomes from research, especially publically funded, should be made as available as possible through knowledge exchange;
A shift in organisational culture and thinking is underway, and should be supported, that highlights that a successful outcome of research is its usage and not necessarily just its money making potential;
A healthier and more productive balance should be sought between the relationships a HEI has with businesses and the more formal contractual aspects often developed;
We must be careful not to drive the development of processes at the expense of good relationships, a key underpinning should be about the quality of the interaction, not just whether a process has been adhered to;
Certain academic behaviours are not always conducive to good business/HEI relationships, this should be addressed;
We should seek to minimise blockages and barriers to good HEI / business interactions, we do not necessarily need a single KE office, rather we require an integrated office;
A sector based model may be difficult to construct as it makes a judgement that the needs within a sector are likely to be similar in nature. This is often not the case and a single sector may have a vast range and diversity of needs that it might wish to engage with HEIs on;
Academic staff could be better aligned to business needs, and business could be better at communication what they want / need from HEIs; and
There is complexity on both side of the equation; whilst progress can be made with the HEI side we must continue to engage with businesses and help them, seeking to reduce the complexity in the system.