Supplementary written evidence submitted by the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (MIP0040)

 

During the evidence session on the 11 January 2017, with Jo Johnson MP, Sean Dennehey and Jenny Dibden, the committee asked for further details and clarification on a number of points.

 

Q290 - Evidence of SMEs (Small and Medium sized Enterprises) finding it easier to interact with Innovate UK

Innovate UK has taken a number of steps to simplify its approach, make its funding  programmes clearer and easier to navigate, and create clear connections to show where to seek help and funding.  This is, in part, in response to the recommendations made from the Dowling and Nurse Reviews.

Competitions are now focused around four sector groupings, plus an open approach, and it runs 10 core competitions per year (twice a year for each sector group and the open approach), each much broader in scope than previously.  This simplified approach is more predictable for companies and has created a single offer of all Innovate UK activities.

Innovate UK has also put in place more coordinated support to help UK businesses access international support and collaborations.  The Enterprise Europe Network, the Knowledge Transfer Network and the Innovate UK National Contact Points provide advice and clarity.  Innovate UK has also established a team of regional managers to help align regional and national approaches to innovation and foster strong strategic relations with the regions.

To further simplify its support, Innovate UK are introducing a new end-to-end online process management system, the Innovation Funding Service, and a new Customer Relationship Management System.

It is difficult to directly compare the volume of applications received this financial year (which has not yet completed) with previous years as the new approach has led to a different spread of competitions during 2016-17 (as compared to earlier years).  From April to December 2016 Innovate UK has received 4825 applications for funding and whilst this is 75% of the figure for the whole of 2015-16, the 16/17 figure is expected to rise considerably given the number of competitions active between now and April 2017.  In terms of funding awarded, SMEs are benefitting under the new process and up to the end of December 2016, 61% of all funding committed by Innovate UK has been for SMEs (£105m, across 613 projects involving SMEs), compared to 56% in the whole of 2015/16 (£171m, across 1050 projects involving SMEs).

 

Q292 – clarification of wording in UKRI Board Member Appointment brief

The original version of the UKRI Board and Innovation Champion job specification uploaded to the Cabinet Office website was an earlier version of the document, containing a drafting mistake, and was uploaded in error. The correct versions were promptly updated, once this error had been identified.

The Government is committed to the Catapult network and prioritised core funding support for the Catapult network in the 2015 Spending Review.  The Catapults will attract total public and private investment exceeding £1.6bn over their first five years of operation.  Ten Catapults are now operating and the network will be expanded further with the establishment of a Compound Semi-Conductor Applications Catapult in Wales, due to open for business in 2017.

 

Q301 - details of the IPO’s Fast Forward programme

From 2010 to 2015, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) ran the Fast Forward competition to encourage universities and public sector research establishments to work collaboratively with businesses and local communities. Fast Forward was designed to facilitate the sharing of research, innovation and IP to create new companies and services which would generate economic growth and benefit UK society.

During the course of the competition, the IPO awarded £2.7 million across a diverse range of 44 projects. Among the successful projects, there were some notably high profile projects, including:

While the Fast Forward competition had proven to be a successful and popular programme, the IPO took on a new challenge in 2015. The IPO launched a new competition, StudentshIP Enterprise Awards, to support projects that bring enterprising students, businesses and their local community together. StudentshIP focused on developing the IP skills and knowledge of university students and helped to launch a number of educational projects across the UK[1].

Both Fast Forward and StudentshIP were successful initiatives from the IPO. However there is still a need to do more to improve the level of IP education across the UK. Neither Fast Forward nor StudentshIP will be run in 2017. Instead, the IPO will focus on addressing the gap in support for students and lecturers beyond the 10 existing StudentshIP projects and the IP Tutor[2] course. A particular focus will be on developing new resources and workshops to provide those just starting their careers in research (i.e. PhD students and early career researchers) with the IP skills to successfully navigate the knowledge exchange and commercialisation process.

 

Q302 - the uptake of the revised Lambert Toolkit

In October 2016, the IPO and the Lambert working group launched a revised version of the Lambert Toolkit. Since the launch of the updated toolkit, the Lambert pages on GOV.uk have been accessed over 6,600 times. This is more than double the rate of monthly views in the 21 months prior to the launch. It is likely that the concerted promotional effort by the IPO and those on the Lambert working group has contributed significantly to the increase in usage of the Lambert site. The fact that the original toolkit, launched in 2005, was due an update to modernise the content was another key factor. The IPO’s outreach activities will continue throughout 2017 in order to spread the benefits of this useful tool, particularly among SMEs

The original Lambert toolkit was launched following Richard Lambert’s 2003 review into university-business collaboration and was a good tool for what it was designed to do. The toolkit was developed by a working group of experts from industry and universities and provides a pre-negotiated starting point to set expectations and ease/speed the process. The agreements are not intended to solve every issue or cover every circumstance but cover common scenarios.

A review of the toolkit in 2013[3] showed that the toolkit has had a positive effect on collaborative relationships between universities and businesses. The review found that almost 70% of organisations that were aware of Lambert had used at least some part of the toolkit. Additionally 80% of those who had used the agreements found that the toolkit simplified the process of constructing agreements over IP. The review also identified some areas where the toolkit could be improved. Over the past three years, the IPO has been coordinating the cross-sector working group to modernise the toolkit to reflect the current innovation and collaboration landscapes. As the new toolkit becomes established amongst existing and new users, the IPO will undertake a similar evaluation exercise to the 2013 review. This will provide a better perspective on the usage and impact of the updates.

 

 

January 2017


[1] A collection of case studies from StudentshIP projects can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/university-ip-case-studies#studentship-case-studies

[2] IP Tutor is a short online course to provide students with an understanding of IP issues. http://www.ipo.gov.uk/blogs/iptutor/

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/311757/ipresearch-lambert.pdf