Against the backdrop of the UK government's continued emphasis on using innovation to drive economic growth, QinetiQ today announced the creation of the UK's first professorship in technology transfer in the physical sciences. The £1 million technology transfer professorship has been awarded to Imperial College London. It is jointly funded by QinetiQ and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The professor of technology transfer will lead academic research to establish reliable mechanisms which develop wealth-creating products and services from physics-based sciences. An appointment will be announced next spring to commence in September 2006.
The professorship is one element of an extensive programme of university collaboration announced by QinetiQ. Building on existing links with universities in the UK and overseas, the defence and security technology company has launched a university partnership programme to provide new market opportunities for university science and technology through joint bidding, joint programmes of work and the sharing of resources. Initial partner universities are Bath, Cardiff, Imperial College London, Lancaster, Oxford (Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division), Southampton and Surrey. Other universities will be engaged later.
Speaking at today's programme announcement at the Royal Society, Sir John Chisholm, QinetiQ's executive chairman said: "Industries based on physics account for a larger proportion of gross domestic product than those based on the life sciences but the UK has been less successful in exploiting excellent research in, for instance, electronics than it has in the biosciences.
"There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all template for innovation. Early value is easier to detect in the life sciences, but the commercialisation of innovation in the physical sciences appears to take longer and be more challenging.
"QinetiQ is delighted to support the UK government's innovation agenda by creating the UK's first ever professorship in technology transfer in the physical sciences. The aim of funding this chair is to help create an environment where innovations in the physical sciences - which have produced technologies such as the silicon chip can be taken to market more effectively.
"In addition our extensive university partnership programme will ensure that universities gain better understanding of market realities, and assist universities to exploit new market opportunities for science and technology."
Sir Digby Jones, Director General of the CBI, welcomed the initiative saying: "The competitive pressure on British business is growing with China alone producing 400,000 science and technology graduates each year. With overseas competitors catching up fast it is vital that the UK does all it can to encourage the application of innovation from all of the scientific disciplines."
Speakers at the event included Professor John O'Reilly, Chief Executive EPSRC who said: "The UK produces research of international quality in a range of disciplines, from maths to materials science, and from IT to structural engineering, and there is an increasing need to accelerate the translation of the knowledge generated into innovation. This new professorship will ensure that the UK's ability to transfer research into technological change becomes an even more effective driver of the knowledge economy in the future." |
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