2008: A review of our year
From the Chair
David Kingham writes…
I was delighted to be elected the Chair of the R&D Society at the 2008 AGM in July. I feel passionately that R&D linked to enterprise, commerce and industry is absolutely vital for the health of our economy, and that the R&D Society needs to take a more active role to promote the importance of R&D.
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And I think it is fair to say that the Society is being more active – in the last half of 2008, we responded to a consultation on Regional Development Agencies from the Parliamentary Business and Enterprise Committee, participated on a discussion panel on Promoting R&D in the UK organised by the Conservatives, held three events on key issues for R&D and launched a group on LinkedIn, to help our members and contacts to network more effectively.
The Society also commissioned Peter Brooks to undertake a short study to help us find ways in which we can strengthen the activities of the R&D Society. We then held a discussion dinner, chaired by our President Sir Richard Sykes, in November 2008. The dinner showed that there was support in the R&D community for an organisation to take on the role that the R&D Society wishes to undertake. The dinner also served to strengthen our belief that business to business knowledge transfer and collaborative R&D is important to champion and develop.
There has been a lot of attention given over the last few years to improving the “supply side” in the knowledge transfer process. I am keen that the R&D Society should focus more on the “demand side” and look again at the ways in which the excellent R&D base in the UK can be harnessed to meet healthcare, social and consumer needs.
I am grateful to the Board for their active involvement, particularly in planning the programme of events. If you are interested in contributing to the work of the Society, I would urge you to stand for the Board at our AGM.
My sincere thanks go to Scott Keir who works tirelessly to ensure that the R&D Society is successful. The continuing support of the Royal Society, not least through the provision of Scott’s time and an excellent venue is greatly appreciated.
In a nutshell
In 2008, the Society…
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Held six evening events, for a total of 263 attendees, with keynote speakers including Ronald Wolff, Ian Harvey and Allyson Reed and panel discussions on the UK’s strengths in business networks, and university knowledge transfer.
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Held four afternoon seminars, for a total of 153 people, on topics including management skills, open innovation, creativity and low-carbon products.
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Awarded its Duncan Davies Medal to Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser, who spoke on “The Challenges of the 21st Century”, attended by forty-four people, including Ann Davies.
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Partnered with the Innovation Technology Centre, Sheffield for a day-long seminar on the future of manufacturing, and with the Asia Pacific Technology Network on the future of India's pharmaceutical industry.
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Achieved press coverage for our activities and our speakers in publications including Research Fortnight, Science Business and Azom.
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Spoke about the importance of R&D at a Research and Development policy seminar organised by the Conservative Party.
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Provided a submission (pdf) to the House of Commons' Business and Enterprise Committee Consultation on the role of RDAs.
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Encouraged members and contacts to network via our group on LinkedIn.
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Started a presence on Twitter, and maintained our website and UK R&D noticeboard blog.
Our events
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Tuesday 15 January: Renaissance in Manufacturing seminar, Innovation Technology Centre in association with the R & D Society, Sheffield
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Wednesday 23 January 2008: Afternoon seminar: The R&D Management Skills Workshop – How to lead motivate and influence effectively
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Tuesday 19 February 2008: Afternoon seminar: Perspectives on Open Innovation - New approaches to the management and exploitation of R&D
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Tuesday 19 February 2008: Evening keynote: Philips and the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven – Opening up corporate innovation, Dr Ronald M Wolf, Senior Business Development Manager, Philips
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Tuesday 18 March 2008: Evening panel discussion: Knowledge Transfer: experiences from the University front line - How should we get from ideas to wealth?
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Thursday 1 May 2008: Evening panel discussion: Using networks to improve UK R&D
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Wednesday 7 May 2008: India's Pharmaceutical Industry: The Journey Ahead, Dr Brian Tempest. Asia-Pacific Technology Network event in association with the R&D Society
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Tuesday 15 July 2008: Afternoon Seminar: ‘Green R&D’ Developing products for a low-carbon and sustainable future
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Tuesday 15 July 2008: The 2008 Duncan Davies Medal lecture and discussion dinner: Sir David King on The Challenges of the 21st Century
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Monday 13 October 2008: Evening keynote: Intellectual Property Rights – Catalyst or inhibitor to a low carbon future? Ian Harvey, Chairman, Intellectual Property Institute
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Tuesday 18 November 2008: Afternoon seminar: Facilitating Creativity and Innovation - Optimising the relationship between R&D and marketing
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Tuesday 18 November 2008: Evening keynote with discussion dinner: Connect and Catalyse – how the Technology Strategy Board accelerates innovation, Dr Allyson Reed, Director of Strategy and Communications, Technology Strategy Board
R&D Policy
David Kingham spoke as a panel member at a Research & Development policy seminar organised by the Conservative Party in October 2008. The other panel members were David Willetts MP – Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities & Skills; Adam Afriyie MP – Shadow Minister for Innovation, Universities & Skills; Richard Spring MP – Party Vice Chairman with responsibility for Business; Sir Brian Fender – President, Institute of Knowledge Transfer; David Cobb – Head of R&D Tax Services, Deloitte UK; Caroline Quest – Chair, Association for University Research & Industry Links. The Conservative Party invited a representative of all our Corporate members to attend, the R&D Society also provided advice on suitable media invites.
In September 2008, the Society provided a submission to the House of Commons' Business and Enterprise Committee Consultation on the role of RDAs, which synthesised responses from members. The Committee's report was published 13 March 2009.
Keeping you networked
We created a group on the networking site LinkedIn, which had 45 members at the end of 2008 – and at least three times that at the time of writing.
We also started Twittering, with news of the R&D Society activities and other relevant “tweets”. On our website, 9,600 visitors made 24,000 pageviews, including 1250 views of our 29 posts to our R&D Society noticeboard blog of policy activities and opportunities.
Our membership
Our membership is the base from which we draw our strength and our mandate to operate. We need a strong, supportive membership for the Society to help make the UK the best environment for R&D in the world.
Forty-eight Individual and 3 Student members joined during the year, bringing the total membership to 30 Corporate members and 116 Individual members.
The Society was sad to learn of the deaths in 2008 of Bruce Doig, Honorary member and founding signatory of the Society's memorandum and articles, Life member Mr John Chalmers and Life Member and of our former Treasurer, Dr Roy Jeffries.
The Board is drawn from our membership and governs the Society on behalf of the members. The Board is drawn from our membership and governs the Society on behalf of the members. The Board elected at the 2008 AGM is:
- David Kingham, Chair
- Stephen Allport
- Martyn Buxton-Hoare
- Anne Gloag. Honorary Treasurer
- David Knight, Honorary Secretary
- Graham Land
- Kieran Quill
- Renate Siebrasse, Honorary Membership Secretary
- Iain Simpson, Immediate Past-Chairman
- Colin Whitehouse
This Board will stand until the 2009 AGM on 9 July 2009.