Yesterday, I drove over the Severn Bridge to attend the annual AURIL Conference in Bristol.AURIL - the Association for University Research and Industry Links - is the membership organisation for those within the university sector which are responsible for the so-called 'third mission' i.e. creating links with businesses and the wider world.
It was well-organised event and the presentations were excellent, most notably the paper from Professor Alan Hughes of Cambridge University which provided some critical insights on how the relationship between government and industry should be managed. Hopefully, we can Professor Hughes over here soon to present his findings to Welsh politicians and policymakers.
It was timely event to attend, following the report of the Assembly's Enterprise and Learning Committee into the Economic Contribution of Higher Education in Wales, which was launched at the University of Wales Newport on Wednesday.
This was an excellent report, filled full of recommendations that anyone would have difficulties in disagreeing with.
The real question though is whether any of them will be implemented by the Assembly Government. For example, one of the key recommendations is :
"that entrepreneurship needs to be embedded more effectively both in the higher education curriculum and within the professional development of research staff: programmes should be established so that Masters and PhD graduates and research staff receive training on commercialisation and on handling relationships with business".
Yet, nearly seven years ago, in evidence to the then Economic Development Committee, I recommended that
"a major step forward would be for all Masters courses to require students to take a module on entrepreneurship. Students might also be required to include a section on commercialisation in all theses."
Of course, despite this being backed by all members of the committee, nothing was done to implement this or most of the other recommendations from this earlier report.
One can only hope that bodies such as the CBI, FSB, HEW and all the universities which took part in this exercise will now press WAG for real actions that can make a real difference to the Welsh economy and maximise the benefits accruing from our higher education sector.
One can only hope that bodies such as the CBI, FSB, HEW and all the universities which took part in this exercise will now press WAG for real actions that can make a real difference to the Welsh economy and maximise the benefits accruing from our higher education sector.
Comments
I can't remember exactly when, but I read about the so called MAB's fiasco - where the MRC (British Medical Research Council) funded a group who fused a white cell producing a specific anti-body with an immortal cell line (a cancer cell) and the end result was a colony of white cells that kept on dividing and which produced a single antibody - this was a HUGE discovery of MEGA value. But sadly a meaningful patent was not filed on the original discovery which left the field open to foreign companies filing patents on commercial applications on MAB technology generating a multi-billion dollar industry, but mostly outside the UK.
If there is a single case study on how not to throw the IP baby out with the bath water - the MABs fiasco is arguably it.
Professor Wang of Bath University is the inventor behind some 20 patents on a key technology – IQE, a Welsh company, has linked up with Professor Wang and acquired certain IP rights. This is, imho, a win-win for Wales.
I shall try again with this and see whether HEFCW will provide the backign for such a course