Guest Post

Although institutional staff profiles and social media make it possible to make contact with people you’ve never met, face-to-face networking is still absolutely essential: if a person can put a face to a name your request is more likely to be passed on to the right person or responded to quickly.

Some people love networking, but other people would rather hide in a bathroom than drink coffee with strangers. So using the unscientific approach of Google, office anecdotes and personal experience, I’ve generated these top tips:

A movement took hold in academia at the dawn of the 20^th century. It spread its wings, exploded twice, then emerged into the technological civilisation we inhabit. This movement today we call ‘impact’ is underpinned by a fundamental motive – in return for funding and support, research conducted at universities should provide positive benefit to society.

Probably the most effective means to this end is by taking ideas cultivated in academia and incorporating them into the development of technologies which can enhance health, wellbeing, the environment and economy.

I attended my first PraxisUnico Conference at Southampton in 2012, after joining Inteum Company the year before.  I’ve attended the conference every year since then, as it has proven to be an invaluable resource for me, both personally and professionally.

Intellectual property are knowledge assets that both universities and business create, but to own and manage these assets they require legal rights.

When most people think of IP they think of the rights that attribute ownership rather than of the knowledge content of the asset. Intellectual property rights typically take the form of a document, such as patents or copyrights, that describes the knowledge content and attributes ownership of the asset.

Strategic alliances are high on the government’s and funders’ agendas. Significant industrial engagement is often critical to get investment for strategic university projects. Universities and industry have been collaborating for over a century; indeed many of our universities were originally established to address pre-competitive business and industrial questions. Over the last decade there have been a number of reviews calling for more and better university-industry collaboration. But what makes for a good strategic partnership?

The positive impact of innovation on commercial success has long been recognised. Maintaining close ties with the research base helps businesses stay ahead of curve by exploiting the latest technological advances and getting scientific developments to the end user more quickly.