Taking care of business: a dark day or new dawn?

Taking care of business: a dark day or new dawn? HUMANE Conference, Stockholm, June 2011 Ian Creagh Head of Administration & College Secretary

Universities, innovation & HEIF in particular • Universities and innovation: recent background and policy context • Issues surrounding the Russell Group and its innovation and research performance • Some King’s specific issues and challenges • Challenges, issues, internal and external

HEIs and innovation – the policy subtext • Universities not particularly well managed • NOT sufficiently focussed on meeting business needs • A pre-disposition towards US solutions/methods • Lambert’s 2003 Review changed the tone and tenor of the debate

Lambert Review -- 2003 • “The biggest challenge identified by this Review lies on the demand side…. • “There has been a marked culture change in the UK’s universities…. • “…most of them are actively seeking to play a broader role in the national and regional economy…. • “Compared with HE institutions in other European countries, British universities have made real progress in their efforts to work with business.”

Key outcomes -- Lambert • People networks • Innovation process is non-linear • Calculation of economic returns to academic research is fuzzy, but evidence of public good is persuasive • Research concentration rather than diffusion • Tech t’fer: not the goose that will lay the golden income egg for institutions • Business should have a greater say • 3rd stream funding: should be permanent feature of HE funding; formuliac allocation

Sainsbury Review 2007 ….innovation ecosystems • “Both new and established high-technology companies want to work with world-class research universities…. • “Private firms alone, in seeking to maximise their returns, will undertake less research than is socially optimal… • “Although research is of great importance to any innovation ecosystem, little is to be gained from research in universities…if there are not strong links between the researchers and industry, and that is why knowledge transfer, and incentives for it, are so important.”

Transition from Tech Transfer to Knowledge Exchange Where we are going to… Where we have come from… STEM focus All disciplines Simple ‘transmission’ model of knowledge Dynamic exchange model Wealth creation Innovation, productivity, quality of life, cultural enrichment, civic dev, community regeneration etc. Large, multi-national businesses Spectrum from global to local/ regional and all users

BUSINESS COMMUNITY PRIVATE SECTOR PUBLIC SECTOR CULTURAL LANDSCAPE SOCIAL & CIVIC ARENA Resources & Opportunities Cultural Enrichment & Quality of Life Efficiency,Cohesion Competitiveness, Growth B&C interaction or ‘third stream’: Scope

Sustainable Strategy Refresh, refine and review Evolution of 3rd stream funding IMPACT OUTCOME OUTPUT CAPACITY CAPABILITY CULTURE HEIs - and their activities - will be at different stages on this trajectory…...

RG: evidence of successful business interaction • RG institutions comprise 12% of all HEIs, but in 2003/4, were: • 79% of HEIs whose contract research with SMEs was > £1m • 65% of HEIs whose contract research with non-SMEs was > £3m • 85% of HEIs whose contract research with non-SMEs was > £5m • 60% of HEIs who had set up 3 or more business spin-offs with some HEI ownership

Industry research performance

Research and innovation management at KCL

With maturing capability, innovation objectives have sharpened • Undoubted early focus on income from business for collaborative research, commercial clinical trials and consultancy • BUT, income alone is not the point. KT/KE positioned as non-linear & dynamic process leading to varied benefits • All about layered business partnership: to create, share, apply and translate research to achieve a social & economic impact • Successful creation of King’s Health Partners: a major priority of the translational research and innovation agenda

Target sectors • Greater London predominates, but also multi-national • Pharmaceuticals sector is of particular importance • Social sciences and public policy footprint is also large – has led to some intriguing interactions and commercialisation activities • Creative and cultural sector – South Bank cultural quarter, Globe Theatre, British Library, British Museum, King’s Cross • Often highly multi-disciplinary in character

Critical partners/friends/contributors • London Development Agency • Larger bio-medical charities • Departments of Culture, Media and Sport; & Innovation, Universities and Skills • King’s Health Partners Hospital Trusts

Successes: HEIF supported spin-outs • Ossprayhttp://www.osspray.com/ • Ixico http://www.ixico.com/index.php • Simulstrathttp://www.simulstrat.com/ • Proximagenhttp://www.proximagen.com/default.shtml • Lidcohttp://lidco-ir.co.uk/ • Medpharmhttp://www.medpharm.co.uk/ • LCACEhttp://www.lcace.org.uk/home.php

Innovation agenda: institutional challenges and tensions • HEIF both in terms of purpose and design is SME focussed • …and King’s research impact dominated by bio-medical science • Natural partners -- pharmaceutical sector; transnational rather than regional in character • Access has to be achieved at the most senior levels • Also requires subtle partnerships with others, when ferocious competition is the norm! • Global Medical Excellence Cluster initiative may assist to overcome and Francis Crick Centre

Scale and competence of KT/KE experts still needs to grow • Demand outstrips capacity to supply embedded KT expertise by an order of magnitude • Expectations increasing esp. with the advent of the translational research agenda and the King’s Academic Health Sciences Centre • Not quite as acute in relation to the creative and cultural & public policy sectors • In part this is the case because of residual cultural resistance to or suspicion of engagement with business

In conclusion • HEIF -- an important and welcome (but relatively small) funding stream for research intensive institutions such as King’s • Has evolved on the back of a consensus among policy elites & business lobby groups concerning the positive role of universities in a modern economy • Has assisted with KT/KE institutional capacity building • Seeded collaboration between HEIs in the interests of business • Raised the profile, importance and benefits to most research active academics of KT/KE • Opportunity costs with Teaching but especially Research

Taking care of business: a dark day or new dawn?