Our services and capabilities:

• A proven track record in helping organisations master innovation through collaboration

• Expertise in engaging stakeholders - in Roadmapping, Horizon Scanning and strategy development

• Extensive experience with KTNs and their forerunners - Faraday Partnerships

• Knowledge Exchange Training and Toolkits - to embed capabilities

About Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Exchange

The UK Government is giving a high priority to supporting research and innovation, and in particular to finding ways to boost the commercial impact of research. This reflects evidence - most recently reviewed and assessed by the Sainsbury Review - that while the quality of the UK’s record for research is outstanding, there is still untapped scope to realise commercial benefits for UK plc. 

Some important points to note about Knowledge Transfer (KT) - now increasingly described as 'Knowledge Exchange' (KE) - are:

• KE has to be a two way process - ‘pull and push’. Effective transfer and exchange of knowledge and technology is as much to do with engaging stakeholders to understand needs and opportunities, as with ‘pushing’ solutions after they are developed.
• There is nothing new about KE - but there are opportunities to make major improvements by changing mindsets, systematically adopting new models, and using new tools.
• KE is relevant not just to innovation in technology, products and services. It is equally important in aligning research and policy to address issues facing the economy, environment and society.
• Programmes to improve KE are being driven by diverse organisations including the Government's Technology Programme, Regional Development Agencies, individual Universities and consortia of Higher Education Institutes.

What are ‘Knowledge Transfer Networks’ (KTNs)?

The Government has established the Technology Programme ‘to facilitate further investment in science, engineering and technology with the active participation of business and industry.’ KTNs have been established to ‘increase the breadth and depth of the knowledge transfer of technology into UK-based businesses and accelerate the rate at which this process occurs.’

KTNs accordingly work with diverse communities, including businesses (suppliers and customers), universities, research and technology organisations, and financiers. The KTNs build on the successes of the earlier ‘Faraday Partnerships’.

Our support for Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Exchange

We have particular expertise and experience in the processes and skills for achieving Knowledge Exchange, especially in collaboration between government, academia, and businesses.

Our support for the Technology Programme includes designing and delivering Roadmaps for the new Grid Computing Now! KTN and for three Faraday Partnerships (Genesis, Insight and IMPACT). In each case we brought stakeholders together, in a 'Brain-Pool' Workshop'. We used special technology to collate, share and build on their inputs, and we synthesised these to create the Roadmaps. Our industry awareness and credibility were important ingredients in the success of this work.

The Roadmaps have proved to be highly influential:

• Focusing internal Partnership activity in knowledge transfer, technology transfer and research targeting.
• Leveraging the Faraday Partnership role in external bodies (e.g. the EPSRC included the Insight Faraday Roadmap in guidance to applicants in their second call on High-Throughput research).

Alongside this focused support, we have also contributed to cross-cutting workshops to raise awareness of KE good practice and tools.

Our team spans a wide range of disciplines (including chemistry, biological sciences, nanotechnology, and engineering) and sectors (including life sciences, energy, and the environment). We also have a strong background in policy research, analysis and advocacy. KTNs can gain powerful synergy through collaboration with New Game-Plan.

Our services for Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Exchange

Our most powerful and relevant services for KE are described below.

 Roadmapping

Our distinctive approach to roadmapping combines: effective engagement with stakeholders; the use of special technology to support the process; experience in catalysing structures and capabilities for networking; and broad experience in strategy work. We have successfully used our Roadmapping approach to develop Roadmaps, innovation programmes, and strategies for future research. Our sponsors for this work have included KTNs, global businesses and diverse cross-sector groups.

Managing Innovation

We are well-equipped to develop and apply practical tools to make innovation happen. Uniquely, we integrate the creative and systematic approaches that all-too-often inhabit ‘different camps’ in organisations. For example, in Brain-Pool Workshops for staff from design, technology, marketing and packaging functions, we enabled Reckitt Benckiser to develop novel product concepts to enhance their portfolio, based on assessing new technologies. We also enabled the Food Strategy Partnership in Northern Ireland to brainstorm and articulate 'Innovation Programmes' to deliver 'Visions for the Agrifood Sector in 2020'. We then refined and assessed these collaboratively with key stakeholders. Our refreshing Workshop approach in itself helped drive forward the innovation process.

Our support extends well beyond the provision of ‘general innovation management tools’. In particular, we stress the importance of ‘market pull’ as much as ‘technology push’. The key challenge in commercialising innovation is to distill clear technology functional requirements for innovation projects from market and customer needs. Our approach, delivered through Brain-Pool Workshops which bring together the relevant stakeholders to deliberate on these requirements, precisely meets that challenge. The output is a very clear and unequivocal brief which those seeking to commercialise innovation can use to explore external sources of technology.

Animating Networks

From our experience in KE, we know that making Networks effective presents a real challenge. We are uniquely qualified as the catalyst to make Knowledge Exchange happen. Recently, for example, we have designed, kick-started, and animated four technology Networks for Syngenta. These have enabled staff from diverse functions spread across a dozen sites in Europe, NAFTA, and APAC to collaborate more effectively. We have also trained staff to use Networking tools and improve their personal skills. One off-shoot has been an intensive project (using a Brain-Pool Workshop) to review the ‘lessons learned’ from new product development projects, and then to develop, transfer and embed a new framework to promote good practice in risk management.

Brain-Pool Workshops

Our highly innovative workshops ‘break the mould’ - contrasting sharply with the traditional ‘talking heads, flip charts and post-it notes’. Our use of special technology enables collaborative interaction and building of ideas ‘on screen’. Everyone gets a fair and equal opportunity to contribute their views - anonymously. As a result, the Workshops deliver a vast improvement in productivity and knowledge capture. Our distillation and assessment techniques enable participants to obtain clear outcomes for later refinement. Our service covers design, facilitation, analysis and reporting.

Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Exchange Training and Toolkits

We provide specialist training to develop skills which are critical to successful innovation - yet scarce: 

• Operating effectively in networks
• Mapping technology (and knowledge) in individual organisations and networks
• Identifying and acting on opportunities for collaboration
• Defining the precise role of the ‘catalyst’ person charged with technology transfer.

We do not provide training on more generic issues (e.g. sources of funding for ventures and management of IP in collaborations), as this is readily available from other providers.

Engaging Stakeholders

Our model for stakeholder engagement emphasises developing new knowledge and forging tangible collaboration. We focus on ‘learning’ rather than ‘persuasion’, recognising that those leading the engagement, and those targeted by it, will both gain through dialogue. We have successfully deployed this approach with diverse stakeholder groups:

• Functions within a global company
• Communities working to influence future research
• The general public interested in farming and food policy Scientists and innovators involved in creating technology Roadmaps

For example, we designed, facilitated, analysed and reported six Brain-Pool Workshops for Defra to generate research priorities in Sustainable Farming and Food. Over 200 participants from 125 organisations generated 800 discrete ideas, which we then distilled down to 200 research statements for the Priorities Group to consider. We also engaged the public in debates on the same theme.