Responsible Partnering Initiative and University-Business Collaborative Research Europe’s universities are increasingly developing partnerships in their research and innovation missions, embracing the “Open Innovation model” of university-business collaboration and seeking to embed this is in sound project management and improved intellectual property management that reflects respective interests. The Responsible Partnering Initiative has been developed through close collaboration between EUA, the European Industrial Research Management Association (EIRMA), the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO) and the European Network of Knowledge Transfer Offices linked to Universities and Public Research Organisations (ProTon Europe). The origins of the Responsible Partnering Initiative date back to a major Conference which was held in 2004 which brought together the main stakeholders from universities, industry and public research organisations. In October 2009 a fully revised 'Responsible Partnering Guidelines'
Acess to Specialist Expertise - Acumen As more and more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) become sophisticated users of ICT, this opens up new opportunities for universities and colleges to engage using web-based technologies. By simply using a web browser, small businesses can access resources and expertise from institutions from across the UK and beyond. This is especially valuable when businesses need highly technical or specialist support. On this page are examples of specialist advice for the creative industries, the manufacturing sector and land-based industries, and access to the British library's databases. In our recent focus group with small businessesf at the Manchester Metropolitan University, participants clearly valued and were excited by the opportunity to access resources from universities and colleges. The businesses, quite rightly, felt that colleges and universities has a huge amount to offer them and could be trusted to give reliable and impartial expert advice. Case Study: Designplus Resources
UK Government Grants & Loans - Funding Programme Types Explore available funding schemes Expand your knowledge of the types of funding schemes available and make informed decisions to fund your UK business. Take a moment to read through the funding scheme types and discover the best route to take for financial support. View the types of funding schemes to determine which category addresses the needs of your UK small business. National Schemes: 2 Regional Schemes: 8 Amounts: £1,500 - £10 million National Schemes: 6 Amounts: £5,000 to £250,000 National Schemes: 39 Regional Schemes: 57 Amounts: £1,500 - £500,000 National Schemes: 8 Regional Schemes: 17 Amounts: £10,000 to £500,000 National Schemes: 4 Regional Schemes: 11 Amounts: £250,000 to £10 million National Schemes: 11 Regional Schemes: 23 Amounts: £3,500 - £2 million National Schemes: 7 Amounts: £20,000 - £10 million Regional Schemes: 6 Amounts: £5,000 - £500,000 National Schemes: 3 Regional Schemes: 18 Amounts: £1,500 to £50,000 Regional Schemes: 14 Amounts: £25,000 to £1 million Personal information Edit
Model Research Collaboration Agreements There are five model Research Collaboration Agreements, covering one to one projects each providing a different approach in the key area of who is to own, and have the right to exploit, the intellectual property in the results or outcome of the collaborative project. The model agreements are merely starting points and their use is not compulsory, but by using them you may be able to reduce the amount of time and money spent negotiating. You should decide which of the five approaches best suits your purpose and negotiate with the other party to achieve consensus and a signed agreement before work on the project begins. Choosing the right agreement To help you decide which of the model Research Collaboration Agreements most closely reflects the circumstances of your project, we have prepared a Decision Guide to lead you through some of the principles and criteria that you may wish to take into account when deciding on the ownership and rights to exploit IP. Guidance notes Identifying issues
INNO-Partnering Forum During 2006-2012, the PRO INNO Europe® initiative has been the focal point for innovation policy analysis and policy cooperation in Europe, aimed at learning from the best and contributing to the development of new and better innovation policies in Europe. The ultimate objective was to help European enterprises to innovate better and faster and to optimise and leverage complementarities between the various innovation support measures in Europe, be it at regional, national or European level. To achieve this, PRO INNO Europe® has given a prominent role to national and regional innovation policy and innovation support actors. The initiative comprises 5 building blocks that provide an integrated policy approach to develop new and better innovation policies. Policy analysis 1. Policy cooperation 4. See the Episis final report
Lambert Tool kit for Collaborative Research The Lambert toolkit is for universities and companies that wish to undertake collaborative research projects with each other. The toolkit consists of a set of five Model Research Collaboration (one to one) Agreements numbered 1-5 and four Consortium (multi-party) Agreements lettered A-D and documents that should help you to use and understand those agreements. The toolkit was prepared by the Lambert Working Group on Intellectual Property. Innovation and Compromise The aim of the model agreements is to maximise innovation. Model Research Collaboration Agreements (one to one) There are five model Research Collaboration agreements devised by the Lambert Working Group. Model Consortium Agreements (multi-party) The four model Lambert Consortium Agreements use the same terminology and have the same structure as the five Research Collaboration Agreements, but contain additional provisions to cover some of the complications that arise as a result of having more than two parties. Decision guide
Why Collaborate “Collaborate or die” An exaggeration? Or not? Many of today’s top companies view collaboration as central to their business operations, and as you will see in this module, business collaboration can be used very successfully to reduce costs, improve profit margins, reduce risk, gain market share, gain valuable new knowledge amongst other benefits. At the end of this module you will be able to: Appreciate the different business areas where SMEs can collaborateUnderstand the different structures in which SMEs can work collaborativelyRelate some practical examples of SME collaborationsIdentify ways to source collaboration partners and be familiar with a range of collaboration tools In order to cultivate business innovation, the condition and tools for the transfer and exchange of knowledge between businesses must be created, as the scale and scope of SMEs often limits their generation of innovation.
University/SME collaboration Universities and research centres can help form so-called systems and networks of innovation. SMEs collaborate with systems of innovation on regional, national or even international levels, dependant on their knowledge and competence needs. SMEs that innovate through science-driven R&D (e.g. in biotech) tend to collaborate with partners across the world in search for new and unique knowledge. SMEs that innovate through engineering based user-producer learning tend to collaborate with nearby partner. Here, innovation often involves the application of existing knowledge or new combinations of knowledge. Please read: • Best practice of collaboration between SMEs and Universities Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the implementation of best practices of collaboration between university and industrial small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Practical implications – The collaboration between universities and SME companies should be based on a small projects base.