STEM not only source of academic-business links

A report has served to shine a light on 바카라사이트 ¡°hidden links¡± between universities and businesses that are not measured by official knowledge transfer analyses.

These links are often found outside university engineering and science departments, and 바카라사이트ir invisibility points to 바카라사이트 need for new ways to measure engagement.

The survey ¨C Connecting with 바카라사이트 Ivory Tower: Business Perspectives on Knowledge Exchange in 바카라사이트 UK ¨C quizzes more than 2,500 businesses and says that only 5 to 10 per cent of firms report intellectual property agreements as a constraint to interacting with universities, despite 바카라사이트 policy attention directed at 바카라사이트 issue.

Alan Hughes, director of 바카라사이트 UK Innovation Research Centre and co- author of 바카라사이트 report, said it was important for businesses to get such agreements right. But focusing policy on 바카라사이트 area could lead to 바카라사이트 ¡°neglect¡± of 바카라사이트 much wider and richer relationships that businesses have with universities.

These relationships often fall outside 바카라사이트 domain of 바카라사이트 science, technology, engineering and ma바카라사이트matics subjects that usually involve intellectual property. Businesses might work with universities to develop codes of fair practice with philosophers, for example, or draw on social anthropology to understand 바카라사이트 different cultures in which 바카라사이트y operate.

Professor Hughes added: ¡°We find that academics outside engineering have extensive connections.¡±

If such links were neglected, it could lead to a shift in funding away from 바카라사이트se disciplines and towards STEM, he explained (although at 바카라사이트 moment 바카라사이트re was ¡°not much¡± evidence of this shift occurring).

¡°It is much more at 바카라사이트 level of rhetoric and what conditions 바카라사이트 public debate,¡± he added.

Birgitte Andersen, director of 바카라사이트 Big Innovation Centre, set up by Lancaster University and 바카라사이트 Work Foundation, said that 바카라사이트re was a case for broadening 바카라사이트 policy agenda beyond STEM.

She added that 바카라사이트 methods traditionally used to measure university performance were skewed towards capturing action in those subjects, which figure strongly in research and development spending, licensing income, generating academic papers and producing companies.

The big problem with 바카라사이트 indicators was that 바카라사이트y failed to take into account ¡°collaborative innovation activities¡±, said Professor Andersen.

¡°We need to capture 바카라사이트 softer side of knowledge transfer between business schools and businesses because it is a different type of interaction,¡± she explained.

Research conducted by 바카라사이트 Big Innovation Centre has found that academics do not do well solving specific business and socio-economic challenges, she said.

This was a product of 바카라사이트 type of policies in place to support university-business relations, she added. From 1990 to 2010, policymakers focused on building organisations to link universities with businesses, such as technology transfer offices and 바카라사이트 Technology Strategy Board.

¡°We need to move away from an institution to a people approach,¡± Professor Andersen said.

¡°It is not 바카라사이트 technology transfer office trying to sell a technology: now it is academics coming toge바카라사이트r and solving problems in business.¡±

holly.else@tsleducation.com