The Research and Development Society

Tuesday 18 March 2008, 6.30pm
The Royal Society, 7 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG - map

Knowledge transfer ...is now more important than ever as we face the challenge of globalisation.
The Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling MP, Former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, 21 November 2006

When an idea is matched with a high potential business, the explosive effects spark a chain reaction to jobs, wealth and higher productivity.
Margaret Hodge MBE MP, Former Minister of State for Industry and the Regions, 14 March 2007

The research base is also a source of new businesses. Since 2003, there have been 30 university spin-out companies floated on stock exchanges. These are valued at more than £1.5 billion. So you can see that we are already getting huge benefits from research. But over the next few years we must excel.
John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, 11 December 2007

Government ministers, university Vice Chancellors, business leaders, academics, funders and entrepreneurs all agree that the UK's future social and economic wellbeing depends on our ability to release value from the knowledge base to increase productivity through greater innovation - the transfer from ideas to wealth.

Universities have adopted different models of knowledge transfer - licencing, "outsourcing" IP exploitation to an independent company, operating an "in-house" knowledge transfer body, to name but three. What are universities experiences of these different models? What can be done to help universities and businesses better work together? Leading, seasoned professionals from the world of university knowledge transfer will discuss their experiences, with at least one-third of the event for audience discussion.

The opening speakers are:

• Alison Fielding, CTO, IP Group on the benefit of "outsourcing" IP exploitation
• Professor Clifford Friend, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Cranfield University
• Keith Robson, Director of Research & Enterprise Support, University of Surrey, on 'University of Surrey; the IP Group experience’
• Susan Searle, Chief Executive Officer of Imperial College Innovations
• Jeff Skinner, UCL on the benefits of UCLs' "in-house" university model

Biographies:

Alison Fielding

Alison is CTO at IP Group plc, where she focuses on the early stages of IP commercialisation. She established Techtran Group Limited with Alan Aubrey in 2002 and was its COO when it was acquired by IP Group in January 2005. Previously, she spent 5 years at McKinsey & Co., where she consulted primarily to the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Prior to McKinsey, Alison spent 4 years as a development chemist for Zeneca. She has an MBA from Manchester Business School and a PhD in organic chemistry from Glasgow University.

Clifford Friend

Clifford Friend is an engineer by background and as Deputy Vice-Chancellor is responsible for the key account management of all the University's Strategic Partnerships with government agencies and businesses. He strategically manages the development of Cranfield's Technology Park and Airpark, the Cranfield Executive Airport and is non executive Chairman of CMD Ltd, and Engineering Innovations Ltd, and is a non-executive director of Sudbury House Hotel Ltd.

Keith Robson

An electronic engineer by training, Keith led private instrumentation company, Beta Instrument, to a trade sale in 1996 as MD and then formed his own start up in computer vision systems. He is now Director of Research and Enterprise at the University of Surrey.

Susan Searle

Susan Searle joined Imperial Innovations in 1994 and has been instrumental in the growth and transformation of the business. Susan was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer in January 2002. Susan previously worked at Montech (Australia), Signet Group plc, Bank of Nova Scotia and Shell Chemicals Limited in the UK and internationally in a variety of business development and commercial roles. Susan possesses over twenty years’ commercial experience. Susan has served on the boards of 14 Spin-out companies including TurboGenset Inc., prior to its listing in 2000. Susan is currently on the boards of Thiakis Limited, EVO Electric Limited and i2india Holdings Limited.

Jeff Skinner

Jeff is Director for Corporate Alliances at UCL – the latest in a string of Knowledge Transfer initiatives that he has spearheaded at UCL over the last decade including a Technology Transfer unit that has created its own venture funds and several dozen spin out companies. He is an active member of the knowledge transfer community and is past Chair of the UK Tech transfer Association (UNICO) and its European counterpart, ASTP. Before joining UCL he spent many years in industry, both in the UK and US