Last month, the UK Government launched its Innovation Strategy, which aims to boost the UK economy by strengthening the country’s system of research and development. The Strategy proposes a deepening of ties between government, universities, businesses, and investors, supported by government policies and interventions.
At Imperial, we’re proud of our strength as a nexus of world-changing collaboration. This is demonstrated by our strong showing in the Knowledge Exchange Framework, which assesses universities activities to make an impact on industry and society, and our commitment to continuous improvement via the Knowledge Exchange Concordat. We welcome government moves to support these efforts, in particular uplifts to some funding schemes, and its recognition of our sector’s success to date.
Our initiatives
Our plans are well-aligned with several of the Innovation Strategy’s objectives. One of its aims is to help researchers cross fluidly between academic and industrial fields, and Imperial supports this through multi-disciplinary networks, collaborative spaces such as the Advanced Hackspace prototyping facility, and new initiatives such as I-X, a collaborative environment for research, education, and entrepreneurship in artificial intelligence and big data.
The Strategy also aims is to make the university sector as accessible as possible to investors. In 2018, we brought our technology transfer function in-house in 2018 to offer a wider range of investors access to our startups, and have recently established a new team with a remit to guide investors through our startup landscape.
Funding announcements
To coincide with the Strategy’s launch, funding body UK Research and Innovation announced a new series of awards from its Prosperity Partnership scheme, which funds collaborative research by universities and industry, and its Connecting Capability Fund (CCF), which supports collaboration in innovation between universities.
We were delighted to share the news of a new Prosperity Partnership between Imperial, Durham University, and Procter & Gamble, which will use advanced academic research to develop a new generation of sustainable cleaning products, and further CCF funding for the Imperial-led medical technology accelerator, MedTech SuperConnector, which pools innovation expertise between eight London institutions and is now developing plans to take its unique model to institutions across the country.
Begin a conversation
As ever, we welcome enquiries from businesses and investors who would like to establish new links with Imperial, discover opportunities, or begin a broader dialogue on how we can best work together to drive forward innovation. You can reach us at enterprise@imperial.ac.uk.
Best wishes,
Dr Simon Hepworth,
Director of Enterprise,
Imperial College London
