̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - licence

What is knowledge transfer?

ns480 — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:34:22 +0000

It’s all about the transfer of tangible and intellectual property, expertise, learning and skills between academia and the non-academic community. It’s also well recognised by government and funders as an important return on the UK’s investment in academic research, one that provides a significant driving force for enhancing economic growth and societal wellbeing. For academics, KT can be a way of gaining new perspectives on possible directions and approaches for research. This two-way exchange element of KT is at the heart of successful and sustainable collaboration.

Academics are often asked to consider the potential audiences, impact and applications for their work, and increasingly there are opportunities to apply for grants specifically with non-academic collaborative partners. In response, Research Councils UK (RCUK) has recently launched the RCUK Knowledge Exchange and Impact as a single point of access for those interested in KT schemes and activities.

Making the most of research

Discussion around KT often focuses on the formation of spin-out business, or the licensing of intellectual property (IP), based on the outputs of university science and technology-related research. Although these are vitally important areas, KT actually encompasses a much broader range of activities and is not limited to the science and technology disciplines. In terms of activities, KT can be split into six types:

People: When students graduate and join the workforce, they bring with them new knowledge and are effectively helping to ‘regenerate the gene pool’ of industry. ̽��ֱ��temporary placement of students and graduates in companies or in the public or voluntary sectors can be a more directed way of exchanging knowledge on a shorter term basis. One of the longest standing schemes is Knowledge Transfer Partnerships funded by the Technology Strategy Board and supported by most UK Research Councils.

Publication and events: Knowledge is transferred through publication of research outputs, and through events and networking. In Cambridge, events can vary from Horizon Seminars (which provide a first look at new findings and developments at the ̽��ֱ�� and are organised by Research Services Division) to the Corporate Gateway (offering a bespoke programme of customised meetings with leading ̽��ֱ�� researchers and new technology companies in Cambridge).

Collaborative research: This is a powerful means of creating opportunities for innovative knowledge exchange. In Cambridge, examples include the Cambridge Integrated Knowledge Centre (CIKC), which brings together ̽��ֱ�� research, industry secondments, business acumen and manufacturing expertise to help those with exploitable concepts to achieve commercial success in photonics and electronics; and the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), which creates new ideas and approaches to modern industrial practice – from understanding markets and technologies, through product and process design, to operations, distribution and related services. As a whole, the ̽��ֱ�� typically engages in 650 research agreements, worth £22 million, with industry annually.

Consultancy: ̽��ֱ��provision of domain-specific expert advice and training to external clients by university staff can be a very effective KT mechanism – it can provide a platform for the exchange of both explicit and more tacit knowledge, and a window on areas of possible collaboration. Support for consultancy is one service offered by Cambridge Enterprise Ltd. ̽��ֱ��IfM also disseminates its research outputs through consultancy services provided by the ̽��ֱ��-owned company IfM Education and Consultancy Services Ltd. Together, Cambridge Enterprise and IfM provide consultancy support to more than 200 companies annually.

Licensing: Licensing the right to use specific research outputs (IP such as patentable ideas) is an important KT mechanism. Information on IP that is available for licensing is accessible through various websites, but successful licensing arrangements are long-term relationships often leading to research collaborations and individual contacts. Licensing is a key area of activity for Cambridge Enterprise, with about 50 new commercial agreements closed annually and a portfolio of over 450 active licence agreements.

New businesses: Bringing research outputs to market through the formation of a new business can be particularly appropriate when the application represents a ‘disruption’ to the current market or sector, or where there isn’t any obvious external partner to whom the idea could be licensed. New businesses based on research outputs often build their business models around collaboration with larger, established firms to access expertise, equipment and routes to market. Cambridge has a well-developed ecosystem for supporting this, including student business-plan programmes, area angel networks and access to capital through Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds (see: ie.cam.ac.uk).

KT is a contact sport

Three key factors seem to underpin successful KT. First, it’s not a ‘zero cost’ activity; it takes effort and time to make it work. Second, it is a ‘contact sport’; it works best when people meet to exchange ideas, sometimes serendipitously, and spot new opportunities. Third, it needs practical, timely and active support at an institutional level – within companies and universities – encouraging a culture of open access and open innovation.

Knowledge transfer (KT) is a term used to encompass a very broad range of activities to support mutually beneficial collaborations between universities, businesses and the public sector.

KT is a ‘contact sport’; it works best when people meet to exchange ideas, sometimes serendipitiously, and spot new opportunities.

Tim Minshall

ExerciseEngineering from Flickr

Happy young business woman shaking hands with another female

Examples of support for KT in Cambridge

Student recruitment and student projects

Direct recruitment of Cambridge graduates: www.careers.cam.ac.uk
Hosting of student or graduate projects: www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/working/studentprojects
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships: www.research-operations.admin.cam.ac.uk/major-funders/knowledge-transfer...

Public availability of research results, events and networking

Direct access to research outputs: www.cam.ac.uk/research
Events and networking: www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/events; www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/corporategateway

Collaborative research

Setup of collaborative research projects: www.research-operations.admin.cam.ac.uk

Licensing of research outputs

Working with ̽��ֱ�� inventors to license patentable ideas to new and existing companies: https://www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk/for-external-organisations/available-technologies/

Formation of new businesses

Support to assist with new business formation: www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk; ie.cam.ac.uk

For more information, please contact the author Dr Tim Minshall (thwm100@eng. cam.ac.uk) at the Centre for Technology Management in the IfM. Dr Minshall has extensive experience of supporting industry–academic collaboration, technology transfer and open innovation.

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Yes

Secrets of the inerter revealed

bjb42 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

For years, the mysterious "J-Damper", a vehicle suspension device described as the F1 technical innovation of the year, was carefully codenamed and concealed to prevent it from being copied by rivals.

McLaren agreed an exclusive right with the ̽��ֱ�� to exploit the technology, but confidentiality restrictions ensured that other F1 teams were kept in the dark. Internet fan-sites and blogs began to buzz with speculation about what the device actually was.

Now, with the lifting of the confidentiality agreement, the secret of the "J-Damper" can finally be revealed. Cambridge Enterprise, the ̽��ֱ��'s commercialisation office, has signed a licence agreement with the American firm Penske Racing Shocks, enabling Penske to supply them to any team in F1.

In fact, the device was first conceived by its creator, Professor Malcolm Smith, as long ago as 1997 and raced for the first time by McLaren in 2005, when Kimi Raikkonen achieved a victory for the team at the Spanish Grand Prix.

̽��ֱ��term "J-Damper" itself was merely a codename to keep the technology secret from potential competitors for as long as possible. Its proper name is an inerter. Many specialists spent time and energy trying to establish what the "J" stood for; but in fact it was just a meaningless decoy added to keep opponents stumped.

Although they are currently being used to improve mechanical grip, inerters have a wide range of potential advantages, many of which are still being explored. Broadly, they offer greater flexibility in a vehicle's suspension system.

Standard suspension systems are based around two components - springs and shock absorbers (dampers). Together, these contribute to the car's ride and handling: they keep vehicle occupants comfortable even though the vehicle is traversing an uneven road surface and is subjected to acceleration and cornering.

No matter how the system is tuned, however, there is always a compromise taking place between handling, comfort and grip. Even in F1 cars, where comfort is less important, the suspension needs to be set to allow both sensitive handling, which requires a harder suspension, and a good mechanical grip, for which the suspension would normally be softer. ̽��ֱ��upshot is that there is still some oscillation as the load on the tyres varies, which impedes the vehicle's grip and therefore slows it down.

Professor Smith realised that this poor trade-off between handling, comfort and grip could be better resolved if a third type of component was added to a suspension system to make it more flexible: the inerter.

̽��ֱ��inerter looks superficially like a conventional shock absorber, with an attachment point at each end. For example, one end may be attached to the car body and the other to the wheel assembly. A plunger slides in and out of the main body of the inerter as the car moves up and down. This causes the rotation of a flywheel inside the device in proportion to the relative displacement between the attachment points.

̽��ֱ��result is that the flywheel stores rotational energy as it spins. In combination with the springs and dampers, the inerter reduces the effect of the oscillations and thus helps the car to retain a better grip on the road.

Though they remain the preserve of F1 for now, inerters have many other potential applications. In time, they could extend far beyond the realm of motorsport and be incorporated into conventional road vehicles and motorcycle steering systems, to name just two areas.

"I was nervous about talking about the idea at first because it seemed so elementary a concept," Professor Smith said. "It was very difficult to believe that nobody had thought of it before and I presumed that either it had been done already, or there was some sort of snag.

"As I discussed the idea with colleagues, however, I began to realise that it hadn't been done and it was possible to achieve this trade-off to improve vehicle suspension. ̽��ֱ��next question was can it be done - and once I had worked out what it should look like, that was a fairly simple matter. It's very pleasing that what began as a theoretical idea is now being used in motor sport, and hopefully it will gradually be incorporated into other types of vehicle as well."

A Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� invention which was kept a closely-guarded secret because of the hidden advantage it offered to a Formula 1 racing team is finally being made available for widespread use.

It was very difficult to believe that nobody had thought of it before and I presumed that either it had been done already, or there was some sort of snag.

Professor Malcolm Smith

jiteshjagadish from Flickr

Mclaren F1 Lewis Hamilton

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Yes

Proactive IP analysis: helping commercialisation not to (micro)drop out of sight

tdk25 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Too often researchers discover that prospects for patenting and commercial exploitation of their inventions are compromised before they have even begun, either because they have prematurely disclosed the information or because ‘prior art’ exists that invalidates their application. What if researchers could instead build into their research process a review of the patent landscape at an early stage, rather than wait until issues are forced by the desire to publish? ̽��ֱ��IP position and commercial potential could then be used to inform strategic decisions about the direction of their research.

Cambridge Enterprise is working to do just this with Professors Chris Abell and Wilhelm Huck in the Department of Chemistry. With funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Cambridge Microdroplets Project will be used as a test-bed for proactive IP analysis. A full analysis of the relevant patent space will be conducted, together with an exploration of the best criteria for identifying and protecting IP during the course of the project; business models for commercialisation that are synergistic with the research will then be built.

̽��ֱ��Microdroplets Project is ideal to model this approach to IP because of its numerous and diverse IP and commercial opportunities. Microdroplets – small water droplets generated in microfluidic systems – have the potential to act as individual reaction chambers in which discrete chemical or biological transformations can be conducted. ‘ ̽��ֱ��power of this discovery platform is that it offers the prospect of a completely new approach to experimental science by allowing quantitative analytical experiments to be carried out in a high-throughput way,’ explained Professor Abell.

Microdroplet research is developing rapidly and has strong international competition from the USA, Europe and Asia. ‘Understanding the patent landscape in any emerging field can inform the strategy for patenting and partnering for commercialisation,’ explained Teri Willey, Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise. ‘In this case, the intention is to optimise the value of the research results as the programme evolves. It represents a strategy by which dissemination of the results can be maximised in parallel with development of a longer term commercialisation strategy. In traditional approaches, these things have sometimes been mutually exclusive.’

This model builds on processes generally adopted in academic research and is one that may well become an exemplar as more IP-sensitive translational research is undertaken by the ̽��ֱ��.

For more information, please contact Cambridge Enterprise Ltd (email: enquiries@enterprise.cam.ac.uk; Tel: +44 (0)1223 760339;www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk)

An innovative new project spearheaded by Cambridge Enterprise Ltd and researchers in the Department of Chemistry is taking a proactive approach to intellectual property (IP) and commercialisation.

̽��ֱ��power of this discovery platform is that it offers the prospect of a completely new approach to experimental science by allowing quantitative analytical experiments to be carried out in a high-throughput way.

Professor Abell

Professor Chris Abell

Microdroplets

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Yes