{"id":3654,"date":"2012-05-23T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T09:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/?p=3654"},"modified":"2012-05-23T13:43:30","modified_gmt":"2012-05-23T13:43:30","slug":"a-new-focal-point-for-industry-academia-networking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/2012\/05\/a-new-focal-point-for-industry-academia-networking.html","title":{"rendered":"A new focal point for industry-academia networking"},"content":{"rendered":"

A guest post from Professor Joe Sweeney<\/a> at the University of Huddersfield.<\/p>\n

—————–<\/p>\n

Anyone who is watching the slow-motion train wreck that is the Eurozone can see that we are in trouble. \u2018National emergency\u2019-type trouble. Scientists have a really good track-record at delivering useful products and processes in times of crisis; when push comes to shove, we can usually get our act together to tackle science-amenable problems of national or global importance. Think Manhattan Project. Think NASA. Think about the enormous strength of UK chemistry in the latter half of the 20th century, based to a great extent upon the post-war momentum generated by scientists who had worked for the cause (Derek Barton was a member of a secret wartime research team working on invisible inks for skin<\/a>). Allegedly.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s no surprise that academic scientists are being urged to Do Their Bit to get us out of the unique mess that we appear to be in. The question is: how? How can we effectively harness the creativity of academic scientists to bring innovation-led impact to the commercial environment? Well it turns out the Royal Society<\/a> have been doing it for years. The Industry Fellowship scheme<\/a> (funded by RCUK<\/a> and industry sponsors such as AstraZeneca, BP and Rolls-Royce) allows academics to spend up to two years working within an industrial research environment, on a project of the applicant\u2019s choosing. There is also the possibility of an industrial collaborator doing a reverse secondment and spending time in the university environment. <\/p>\n

The Royal Society Industrial Fellowship (RSIF) scheme has been operating for more than 30 years and it is a class-leading vertical tech transfer mechanism (as they say in the trade, apparently), but it has a relatively low profile (go on, admit it: you\u2019ve never heard of it have you?) outside the direct beneficiaries of the scheme. Well all that is about to change; on 3 May this year, the RS held the inaugural RSIF Network Event to kick-start a new plan for maximizing the impact of the IF scheme. Using the class-leading tech transfer, collaborative understanding and networking skills generated, we will provide a focal point for redesigning the academia-industry interface so that it is fit-for-purpose for the challenges of the 21st century.<\/p>\n

The launch event is the start of a whole range of networking activities to engage academics with industry partners, to create, nurture and refine research partnerships to tackle problems demanding both cutting-edge science and commercial acumen. The RSIF Network will be driven by a college of Industrial Fellows \u2014 comprised of current and ex-alumni \u2014 and it will use the power of contemporary e-networking to give a new perspective to a well-known (and, in some quarters, much-derided) interface. Anyone interested in collaborative research can climb aboard by contacting the Royal Society, or by dropping a comment below. Collaborations just got even more interesting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A guest post from Professor Joe Sweeney at the University of Huddersfield.  Read more<\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":541,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-authors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/541"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}