Demand Stimulation. The Open University is developing training to enhance academic engagement in knowledge exchange · Further enhancing our outreach work with employers in the Dumfries & Xxxxxxxx region, with a particular focus on healthcare and the opportunities for innovation presented by research-practice interface developing around the Xxxxxxxx Care Campus (the OU having the lead institutional role amongst the academic partners) and the OU’s own Priority Research Area (PRA): Health & Wellbeing. · Continuing discussions with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), in particular with their University Engagement Manager, around supporting sustainable economic development within Highlands and Islands both at an individual institutional level and in collaboration with other HEIs. · Tendering to increase the number of Scottish Union Learning skills workshops we offer to a range of employers, increasing the demand in business for this university service Outcome 2: Commercialisation · We will continue to work with Interface, offering Open University expertise where appropriate · We will engage with template contracts where commercialisation occurs Outcome 3: Greater Innovation · The Open University is developing training to enhance academic engagement in knowledge exchange and improve professional development for Enterprise and Innovation (E&I) officers · We will re-engage more fully with University Technology for processes and products developed by OU researchers · We will work towards a strategic engagement plan for Scotland in our each of our Strategic Research Areas (SRAs): - Space - Citizenship and governance - International development - Technology enhanced learning Outcome 4 – Entrepreneurialism. · We have augmented our careers service resource in Scotland to include a focus on promoting entrepreneurialism in students, including more systematic engagement with Scottish Institute for Enterprise and the Enterprise Campus · We will complete the review and collating of our entrepreneurship resources, currently focused on the popular Rural Entrepreneurship open educational resource, on OpenLearn Outcome 5 – Internationalisation · We will continue to support the development of open educational resources and informal learning activities to have impact at both a national and international level · Supporting the University’s ‘Brexit Project’ to develop written articles, audio and audio-visual pieces as a prompt to examine Xxxxxx's relationship with the different situations and expe...
Demand Stimulation. The key items raised to date included: • HEIs need to offer a wide range of services, to a diverse customer base to support business and organisational innovation; • It is important to note that due to different strengths, customers and capabilities that a one size fits all approach would not work; • A current straw-person proposal is focussed on stimulating multinational companies demand for Scottish HEI services and spin-outs through targeted relationship building; • Multinational companies often have open innovation programmes, corporate VC programmes and dedicated R&D budgets to enable these partnerships; • There was a perceived gap in that there may not be a ‘Scottish offer/approach’ that is connected between the various actors involved –a targeted offers provided from Enterprise Ireland has been used as an example; • The emphasis on multinational companies may not suit every university and UHI is planning to propose at the next meeting of the group that an additional focus on remote and rural microbusinesses should also be considered.
Demand Stimulation. The University of Aberdeen has enhanced its collaboration with its partners in the North East Scotland Innovation clusters focussed on energy transition, life sciences, food, drink and agriculture and digital economy (NIS), through the Directors of our Interdisciplinary Challenge areas and leadership roles within each of the regional industry boards. • The appointment of a dedicated Xxxx for Enterprise and Innovation, 12 school based Enterprise and Innovation Champions and the creation of a new committee to support and facilitate engagement with industry, enterprise and entrepreneurship will enhance institutional capacity to increase demand stimulation (NIS, EC, UIF+new). • The enhanced capacity will enable the University to enhance its engagement with Opportunity North East, Net Zero Technology Centre and the two local councils to meet its City Deal objectives and deliver the refreshed Regional Economic Strategy. • We are enhancing our engagement with other regional partners such as the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), CodeBase and ONE Tech Hub, the Energy Transition Zone (ETZ), Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce to facilitate engagement of researchers with business. • The National Decommissioning Centre, a joint initiative between the University and NZTC continues to provide a focal point to transform decommissioning for the energy sector with 22 projects currently underway. Increased investment in its facilities has provided new industry opportunities within the renewable sector (UIF+). • The University provides leaders and operational support for the National Energy Skills Accelerator (NESA), a collaborative partnership to develop the skills of the existing and future energy workforce, supporting the SFC Pathfinder and Scottish Government Transition Fund initiatives (UIF+). • The University currently has three Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiRs) funded by the Royal Society, working with Engineering, Computing Science and Medical Sciences. We intend to continue to engage with these EiRs, and to expand their number and scope in 23/24, e.g. by appointing a Creative Industries Entrepreneur in Residence (EC; UIF+new).
Demand Stimulation. UWS’ goal is to create an environment which is welcoming to business and supports innovation and entrepreneurialism amongst its students and staff. The university is committed to fostering a culture of enterprise that will support economic growth locally and globally. We aim to build partnerships with business that support the development and delivery of our learning programmes, work experience opportunities for our students and encourage our commitment to our students being work-ready and commercially aware. UWS aims to build on the significant work it has done from 2014-2016 to further develop its contribution to Scotland’s economic development. At its core UWS’ enterprise strategy is to generate greater demand from business for its services, to make it easier for business to work with us and to help them innovate, internationalise and grow in an a way that has a positive social and cultural impact on Scotland as well as economic benefits. We will do this by continuing to build strong partnerships with industry that enhance the learning experience of our students and staff and prepare them to make valuable contributions in the workforce. Partnerships are central to UWS’s business engagement. In 15/16 we were nominated for an award for our partnership with St Mirren Football Club as well as developing new innovative partnerships with National Air Traffic Systems, Netball Scotland and Renfrewshire Council with a focus on the Paisley 2021 bid for UK City of Culture. Our partnership with the Centre for Engineering Education and Development also progressed this year with higher membership numbers than ever. We plan to help CeeD grow to a point next year where their membership moves past an important sustainable threshold. Company formation has also seen real progress at UWS over 15/16 with our start up and spin out pipeline growing to over 10 prospects, 2 of which are being supported by the High Growth Spin Out Programme from Scottish Enterprise. Increasing demand from businesses and making it easier for them to access services from UWS has been a focus for this year. We have developed a working database of companies and we have started to map these to the expertise at UWS. We have also run 3 Festivals of Enterprise to which companies have been invited to come and learn about key industry themes such as 5G Mobile Networks, Digital Health and Sustainable Manufacturing. Target: Grow our database of companies engaged with UWS by 10% per annum Target: Establi...
Demand Stimulation. “Working with enterprise agencies, SG, Business networks, Interface and others… help increase the demand and quality of engagement from businesses and the public sector for university services”. • As one of the North-East of Scotland’s key anchor institutions and as noted above, the University of Aberdeen is committed to working with regional, national and international stakeholders to build partnerships that deliver imaginative solutions to societal, economic and industrial challenges in Scotland and internationally. • Collaboration with the Innovation Centres will bring additional benefits for our industry partners and opportunities for researchers to address industry needs. • The University will continue to work in partnership with the Net Zero Technology Centre in 2022/23, building upon successes in 2021/22 including six new research and development relationships, to meet the needs of industry for innovation for a Just Transition. • As part of this relationship, the University will continue to add to the industry collaborations secured by the National Decommissioning Centre (NDC), with eight completed projects to date and a further 13 projects or partnerships underway in 2021/22. The University will make available to industry the world class immersive simulation suite. • In 2021/22, the University of Aberdeen took over as Chair of the National Energy Skills Accelerator (NESA) - a partnership between ETZ Ltd., Skills Development Scotland, RGU, NESCol and the University of Aberdeen working together to address industry’s skills needs for energy transition. To date NESA has secured three MOUs with industry partners for future skills needs. Work will continue in partnership in 2022/23 to deliver the commitments within the North-East Tertiary Pathfinder Energy Transition Skills Pathway project and the newly awarded £1M Just Transition Fund project on Skills for Energy Transition. • The University will continue to engage fully with the Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) and will participate in opportunities for supporting start-up businesses in energy transition technologies. • Green Freeport: The University led the innovation strand as part of development of the North-East Green Freeport bid, working with partners across the region including RGU, local authorities, enterprise agencies, port authorities and industry. • Through the road to COP26 programme the University provided a number of events for engagement and supported staff and student attendance at COP26. T...
Demand Stimulation. “Working with enterprise agencies, SG, Business networks, Interface and others… help increase the demand and quality of engagement from businesses and the public sector for university services”. The University is a founding partner of the Aberdeen Region City Deal (ARCD). In collaboration with all the partners of the ARCD (Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils, the Xxxxxx Xxxxxx University, Scottish Enterprise and Opportunity North East (ONE) (providing sector industry leadership)), the implementation strategy has been developed in response to the industry demand. The ARCD is providing opportunities for industrial engagement through projects that address industry needs and seeks to contribute to the economic development of the region through new job and company creation, particularly within the Innovation Theme of ARCD. The four strands of Innovation include Oil and Gas, Life Sciences, Food, Drink and Agriculture, and Tourism, with a further strand for Digital being created. Each strand includes activities around promoting and supporting entrepreneurship through accelerator programmes, which the University of Aberdeen is contributing to at various levels through the institution. City deal structures provides models of good practice for regional development, and where innovation is key to the strategy close cooperation amongst the academic, public and industry partners is essential. The Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) is now working across the sector to identify projects to advance its priorities. Aberdeen is actively involved in submitting proposals for industry-led projects, with one project funded and others in development. The OGTC board has approved the Strategic Business Case of a Centre of Excellence in Decommissioning and Late Life, which is led by the University of Aberdeen. We will work with OGTC to ensure a full range of stakeholder engagement from both industry and other HEIs to contribute to demand stimulation of the energy sector. In 2017/18, Aberdeen launched its MRC Proximity to Discovery pilot to promote ideas and people exchange between industry and researchers. The pilot was initially limited to Aberdeen’s MRC Centre for Medical Mycology but it has now been opened to all eligible researchers. Aberdeen will continue to work with ARCD during the development of their business support programme for the regional life science community, leading on activities such as the bespoke boot-camps and accelerators for life scientists, as run in ...
