Creating value from academic/commercial collaboration Conference, London, June 29th
Creating Value from Innovation: bridging the proverbial gapJuan Mateos-Garcia, NESTA Policy & Research
Hello.
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Summary
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a. About NESTAb. Bridging the Gap(s)c. Our own workd. Conclusion
b. About NESTA
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Lottery endowment: ‘Make Innovation flourish in the UK’
Invest on Innovation
Pilot practical initiatives
Inform policy
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b. Bridging the Gap
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“Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas”
Universities have a key role to play in it: as a source of new ideas, and the talent to deliver them.
Kitson et al (2009), Goddard (2009)
b. Bridging the Gap
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Research
Education
Innovation
Knowledge
Skills
Linear Model
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Research
Education
Innovation
Knowledge
Skills
Interaction
b. Bridging the Gap
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Research
Education
Innovation
Knowledge
Skills
b. Bridging the Gap
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Distance between Universities and
Businesses
Organisational distance
Geographical distance
Timeframes, metrics
Knowledge degrades with distance
Differences in…
Cognitive Distance Language, values
Perception of high opportunity and transaction costs for collaboration (particularly for SMEs)
b. Bridging the Gap
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Distance between Universities and
Businesses
Organisational distance
Geographical distance
Timeframes, metrics
Differences in… Addressed through
Alignment
Location
Cognitive Distance Language, values Translation
Perception of high opportunity and transaction costs for collaboration (particularly for SMEs)
b. Bridging the Gap
Knowledge degrades with distance
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Create vehicles for the transfer of knowledge: PATENTS
And vehicles for the exploitation of knowledge: SPIN OUTS
University of Southampton: Global Third in Spin-outs+Structured Serendipity: 7 Consultancy Units & Business Incubation (SETSquared)
University of Manchester: Investment fund for spin-outs
Alignment
b. Bridging the Gap
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Develop the skills/institutions to communicate with business
University of Newcastle: Professors of PracticeEntrepreneurial individuals with one foot in research and the other in business
University of Dundee: DSTTFunders of the division get ‘first rights’ to license technology generated through the research
Translation
b. Bridging the Gap
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Create shared spaces for researchers and business
Support existing clusters, and build ‘latent’ ones
Daresbury LaboratoryLarge scale centre providing facilities to 85 companies. Collaboration between them is encouraged through facilitated networking
Location
b. Bridging the Gap
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They can be countervailed by highlighting the unique advantages of collaboration with universities:
+ Access to skills+ Access to international sources of knowledge+ Access to interdisciplinary bodies of knowledge+ Facilities
An observation on opportunity costs…
b. Bridging the Gap
c. Our own work
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Universities are a central player in the National System of Innovation: thus, an area of focus for us
Invest on Innovation
Investments
Pilot practical initiatives
Inform policy
Programmes Policy & Research
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Invest on Innovation
Pilot practical initiatives
Inform policy
Investments
Programmes Policy & Research
Invest on University spin outs
c. Our own work
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Invest on Innovation
Pilot practical initiatives
Inform policy
Investments
Programmes Policy & Research
Invest on University spin offs
Interdisciplinary collaboration
c. Our own work
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Invest on Innovation
Pilot practical initiatives
Inform policy
Investments
Programmes Policy & Research
Invest on University spin offs
Interdisciplinary collaboration
c. Our own work
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Invest on Innovation
Pilot practical initiatives
Inform policy
Investments
Programmes Policy & Research
Invest on University spin offs
Training & Skills
c. Our own work
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Invest on Innovation
Pilot practical initiatives
Inform policy
Investments
Programmes Policy & Research
Invest on University spin offs
Training & Skills
c. Our own work
Fund research on innovation
d. Going ahead
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Providing the right incentives
And evaluating (both ex-ante and ex-post)
Very challenging for soft initiatives
Avoiding perverse incentives
Or one size fits all solutions
