What is knowledge exchange? A brief intro

What is knowledge exchange?

Knowledge exchange (or KE) is the transfer of ideas and knowledge from academia to external organisations or users.

“Knowledge exchange is a dynamic, ongoing, two-way interaction and flow of ideas and people between colleges and universities

and business, public and third sector organisations.”Scottish Funding Council

There are two main types of KE activity

• Collaboration: – the generation of new ideas and knowledge between academic

and external partners (eg. government, businesses, charities)

• Dissemination: – The transfer of ideas/knowledge from within the university to

potential beneficiaries beyond academia, including general public

Examples of both are provided on the following slides

Collaboration: Research• Academic research undertaken in partnership with other research

organisations, businesses, government or third sector, to generate new knowledge.

• Typically focussed on the application of research to development or improvement of products or processes.

• Researcher’s time accounted for in initial budget proposal.• Projects funded/part-funded by partners, may involve shared

ownership or transfer of Intellectual Property (IP) generated.

Funding opps: Technology Strategy Board, RCUK, various competitions issued on needs-led basis

GSA examples of Collaborative Research

Supported by Historic Scotland and a range of other partners, Digital Design Studio have been scanning and creating high definition, 3D digital models of ten UNESCO World Heritage sites to support management, communication and conservation of these sites.

More DDS projects: 3D Head and Neck model

GSA examples of Collaborative ResearchProf. Alistair MacDonald, Dr. David Loudon and team have collaborated with a number of partners on a cross-funding council initiative to visualise dynamic bio-mechanical data to improve the design of healthcare. This research has informed a number of related projects undertaken by the team.

More examples:Envisage, rehabilitation Hospital Foodie

GSA examples of Collaborative Research

Creating Cultures of Innovation is run by GSA’s Institute of Design Innovation (InDI), in partnership with Institute of Directors Scotland and University of Glasgow. Through the programme, small to medium sized enterprises work closely with the design team to develop and embed innovation processes in their organisation, helping them leverage their inherent creative capacity, spot opportunities and develop new processes, products and services.

More examples from InDI:Delivering Assisted Living Lifestyles at Scale

Collaboration: Academic Consultancy• The provision of expert advice and work to address a particular

research issue on behalf of an external organisation, without the creation of new knowledge.

• Can be carried out by academic, technical or support staff. • GSA staff time charged at market rate according to the brief. • If the project would potentially lead to generating new IP,

arrangements made in contract for any commercialisation.

Funding opps: the external client pays for academic time.

To help kickstart such projects with small-medium sized businesses in Scotland, Innovation Vouchers (led by SFC) are available to cover up to £5k of academic time. GSA also runs a Knowledge Exchange Voucher scheme to support academics in developing collaborative KE projects.

GSA examples of Academic Consultancy

Funded by an Innovation Voucher, the School of Architecture’s Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit (MEARU) are working with Dormont Estate to monitor and assess the performance of Passivhouse homes in Dumfriesshire.

GSA examples of Academic Consultancy (incl. Innovation Vouchers)

GSA researchers, academics and technicians have worked with a range of organisationson a wide variety of projects, from developing workshops with Maklab; to embedding innovation practices for fashion start-up Kilgour & Donald; to refining product designs for electric industrial vehicles, cleaning components and sustainable packaging.

Collaboration: Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs)• These are research projects that involve a small-medium sized

business or a charity, academic and a recently qualified researcher (known as a KTP associate). Some projects are run with charities rather than businesses.

• Focussed on applying research to solve a specific business challenge over a period of 6-36 months.

• Associate is employed and based at the business. Academic’s time bought out for 0.5 days per week.

Funding opps: Costs are subsidised through the Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme with the business/charity contributing one third of costs (approx. £20k per year).

GSA examples of KTPs

School of Architecture (MEARU) and a KTP associate are working with Cartwright Pickard Architects (London) to develop and embed the capability to undertake detailed performance evaluation in sustainable low energy housing to influence future design proposals.

More examples: GSA & Tenants First Housing Assoc A range of art and design KTP case studies can be found on GSA’s VLE

Collaboration: PhDs• Collaborative PhD studentships are carried out in partnership with

non-academic organisations• Partners contribute to budget and other resources, provide

mentoring and research subjects

Funding opps: Collaborative Doctoral Awards (AHRC), Industrial CASE (ESPRC, ESRC). These have Autumn deadlines but require a lot of preparation.

Collaboration: Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

• Provision of training in vocationally relevant skills, taught to individuals, or employees of external organisations (including other teachers)

• Not all taught courses have to lead to an award or qualification

Funding opps: paid for by the attendees though often through subsidised programmes (SDS, sector skills council, Creative Scotland, Scottish Enterprise)

Dissemination

• The sharing of research outputs to potential new users or beneficiaries of that research in and beyond academia

• Includes journals, conferences, events, media, exhibitions, websites

Funding opps: more difficult to find external KE funding for dissemination unless the research is relevant to a Trust or Foundation, or to commercial sponsors with an interest in the subject. If you have a project which you are looking to support, please contact us.

If you would like help in scoping or funding a project, contact the Knowledge Exchange team

Colin Kirkpatrick, ext. 1483, [email protected]

Stuart Barnes, ext. 1111, [email protected]