Member Article

Northern University collaboration to boost Industry and Innovation

A new collaboration between the N8 Northern Univerisites in the North of England is set to bring together senior individuals to encourage innovation links between industry and universities.

The Industry Innovation Forum will be led by scientists from the northern research intensive universities, and will drive innovation, competitive advantage and growth. Firms involved in Research and Development and Government bodies will also be involved to maximise links and market pull between all partis.

The Forum will be officially launched at a dinner at the University of Leeds, where the Minister of State for Universities and Science David Willetts will officially mark the launch of this initiative.

Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said: “The Industry Innovation Forum is an excellent example of the benefits of collaboration across the higher education sector.

’This initiative will give companies of all sizes access to the resources and expertise of eight research-intensive universities, driving innovation and providing them with informed solutions to the challenges they face.“

The first meeting will focus on Advanced Materials Technologies, which are linked to the aerospace and consumer goods sectors. Discussions will be business led, and will quickly encourage links between all parties.

The Technology Strategy Board’s role within the Industry Innovation Forum will be to facilitate the forum meetings and encourage industry and academia to ‘engage and explore’ ideas and insights. Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, added: “The Technology Strategy Board’s key role is to accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation.

“We are delighted to pilot and support the N8 Industry Innovation Forum, which aims to help businesses of all sizes to work together and form collaborations, and to develop relationships with research-intensive universities in the North of England, translating new research and innovative technology into commercially-viable products and services.

“We already have excellent examples of working to support business in the North of England and look forward to building on its strong industrial capacity.”

The N8 Research Partnership is a collaboration between the universities of Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York, which utilises the combined expertise and capabilities of these research intensive universities.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .