Innovation through Knowledge Transfer 2012

In the last few years, the collaboration between research institutions and industry has become a well established process. Transfer of Knowledge (ToK) is required to accelerate the development of both sides and to enable them to unlock their full potential. European Commission within the Marie Curie Industry and Academia Partnerships & Pathways (IAPP) programme supports the cooperation between these two sectors at the international scale by funding research projects that as one of the objectives aim at enhancing human mobility. IAPP projects offer people from different institutions the possibility to move sector and country in order to provide, absorb and implement new knowledge in a professional industrial-academic environment. In this paper, one of such projects is presented and both academia and industry perspectives in regard to opportunities and challenges in Transfer of Knowledge are described. Computational Intelligence Platform for Evolving and Robust Predictive Systems (INFER) is the IAPP project that serves as a case study for this paper.

During May and June 2011, motivated by the need to improve techniques for recording the processes and outputs of research, we ran two workshops under the auspices of the e-Science Institute. The theme title was “Smart Spaces for Smart People”. Although our initial intention was to explore interactions between the physical and digital worlds, the emphasis changed to the productive exploitation of spaces ascribed as smart. We explored the quality of smartness in the context of smart meetings, which led us to conclude that the role of hardware and software technologies is to confer capability. For a system to achieve smartness, we deem certain components to be essential, most notably people. However, we also consider the role of both technological and traditional techniques for capturing meeting outcomes. We learned lessons that are applicable not only to meetings about research but also in the more general knowledge transfer context. We conclude that the way forward for exploiting smart spaces relies on design and on empowering the users of such spaces in that design. This paper is the first in a series of three, each dealing with different aspects of the workshops and how they influenced our thinking about knowledge transfer meetings, particularly in the context of sharing research outputs.

During May and June 2011, we ran two workshops with a theme entitled “Smart Spaces for Smart People” [1]. Although organized under the auspices of the e-Science Institute, the participants came from a variety of disciplines and brought a range interests. The workshops themselves were run as experiments in running smart meetings with the intentions of exchanging and recording knowledge and decisions discussed in the meeting. A recurring theme in the workshops was not only that technology can be provided in a smart space to help in the knowledge transfer and recording process, but also that the technology will only be adopted and exploited if the users of the smart space can easily use it. There are other human factors that affect the success of collaboration in a smart space. These include the willingness for participates to collaborate if they have concerns over privacy and anonymity, particularly when discussions and decisions are recorded using technology. The dynamics of how participants work together in groups to transfer knowledge can also be enhanced through the use of smart spaces. The fact that the workshops were run in different physical environments also provided insights into how the physical design of the meeting space might have on effective collaboration and therefore effective transmission of knowledge. This paper is the second in a series of three, each dealing with different aspects of the workshops and how they influenced our thinking about knowledge transfer meetings, particularly in the context of sharing research outputs.

During May and June 2011, we ran two workshops with a theme entitled “Smart Spaces for Smart People”. Although organized under the auspices of the e-Science Institute, the participants came from a variety of disciplines and brought a range interests. We placed a strong emphasis on facilitated discussion, with the clear intention to explore ideas about exploiting the interactions that could occur within smart spaces. Although the workshops formulated the view that no space is, or can be, inherently smart, we deemed certain components to be essential for a system to achieve smartness, most notably people; the role of hardware and software technologies is to confer capability. The lessons we learned are applicable to any smart meeting. We grouped our findings under four sub-themes that we identified as a basis for the successful planning and conduct of smart meetings. After examining the principal ideas associated with each sub-theme, we go on to consider how these ideas might influence strategies for exploiting smart meetings for knowledge transfer. This paper is the third in a series of three, each dealing with different aspects of the workshops and how they influenced our thinking about knowledge transfer meetings, particularly in the context of sharing research outputs.

’Interactive Acquisition, Negotiation and Enactment of Subject-oriented Business Process Knowledge’ is a 4-year research effort to implement a knowledge life cycle using Subject-oriented Business Process Management and mutually align related Organizational Learning techniques in respective development processes. As different partners from academia and industry need to share their experiences, tools, techniques on a detailed level as well as the project’s content management are of crucial importance. In this paper, we focus on the Nymphaea system as a means for effective spatially distributed knowledge sharing. We develop the requirements revisiting distributed transactive memory systems and describe the toolset and its support for different aspects of knowledge sharing within the project. We also report on initial findings when utilizing annotation features for individualization and mutually changing perspectives.

This work presents case studies of effective knowledge transfer in projects that focused on using nonlinear time series analyses in varied industrial settings. Applications, characterized by intricate dynamical processes, ranged from e-commerce to predicting services request in support centres. A common property of these time series is that they were originated by nonlinear and potentially high-dimensional systems in weakly stationary environments. Therefore, large amount of data was typically required for providing useful forecasts and thus a successful transfer of knowledge. However, in certain scenarios, classifications or predictions have to be inferred from time windows containing only few relevant patterns. To address this challenge, we suggest here the combined use of statistical learning and time series reconstruction algorithms in industrial domains where datasets are severely limited. These ideas could entail a successful transfer of knowledge in projects were more traditional data mining approaches may fail.

How do we ensure knowledge transfer from universities in the most effective and efficient way? What is the right balance between a push and a pull approach? These issues have been discussed at length and various methods of intermediary facilitating and ways to organise the transfer have been tried in different contextual settings at universities all over the world. Lessons learned are mixed and naturally varies from country to country. This paper presents a recently completed development project concerning the transfer facility at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). The project focused on the pull function and the capacity development of the SMEs as this was the main lessons learned during the initial phase of the project. The paper also presents four Danish innovation projects that illustrate the use of the pull–based concept.Last but not least, the paper presents a new post–graduate education at DTU in design and management of projects in network. It supports competence development within efficient knowledge transfer. Finally conclusions and recommendations will be presented and discussed based on the above six cases within university research based knowledge transfer.

The paper describes how creative processes were applied to developing a new product range, to enhance performance, streamline production, reduce costs and open up new markets for body armour solutions. It describes how a company with a proven track record in manufacturing, had lost market share during the first Gulf war due to supply chain issues and had found it difficult to regain share, as the market place had shifted in terms of design. The paper details internal and external challenges in bringing creative processes to the company, to enhance personal protection, improve performance and deliver on aesthetics. Social contexts and physiological issues brought additional challenges. From a business operations perspective, valuing and solving design problems had to be cost effective to manufacture using existing technology. The paper outlines how an academic in fashion and textiles used anthropometrics to research and develop creative solutions for soft body armour. The innovative, new products are now used by security forces globally.

This paper describes the journey undertaken by Sheffield Business School, in implementing a student consultancy unit as an extra-curricular activity and the positive and negative issues that it has faced. It is a case study which will take the reader from conception through to a functioning student consultancy service. The Alchemy Exchange has established itself as part of the overall student offering, alongside course based consultancy while making itself part of the Business School’s business engagement offer. The case study provides an insight into how an extra curricular activity can be used as a way to provide a cost effective consultancy service to business, while providing students with a real life learning experience for which they are paid, supervised by an academic and transferring knowledge.

A recent analysis demonstrates that a huge undeveloped innovation potential exists in many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Denmark [1]. The SMEs do not, in many cases, have the necessary knowledge capacity in-house, and they lack the knowledge about how to initiate and maintain innovation linkages externally. Furthermore, many SMEs do not focus enough on the long-term and strategic development perspective because the short-term tasks often occupy the management full-time, especially given the current financial situation [1]. Thus, they appear differently in very small (<10) and larger (>10) companies, as shown in this paper / presentation. This presentation represents the author’s findings regarding whether company size is important for accepting a knowledge transfer project in situations where offered funding requires certain participation from the SME.

This paper describes developments on new methodologies to facilitate the good and stimulating knowledge collaboration between business and researcher. This work in progress is focused on studying and describing three levels in the knowledge collaboration: Information, knowledge and competences.

The most powerful and concentrated sources of technology know-how and innovation lies with our technical universities. Making this source of know-how and innovation operational for private and public companies holds a tremendous potential for development and growth. However, most reports on the cooperation between university and industry seem only to document the many problems and pitfalls experienced when the two very different cultures meet and interact. And most analysis on the actual volume of cooperation between university and industry indicates that we fall very much short of the potential that could be reached.

Organisations recognise today that it is often difficult to recruit and retain personal with the necessary knowledge and to solve efficiently skill shortage i.e. by employment people with special needs. Mentoring and coaching particularly on the job under consideration of the diversity can be organised to address these aspects.

This article focuses on different aspects of knowledge transfer (KT), coaching and monitoring. The paper gives first a very brief introduction on diversity coaching (DC) and on formal and informal mentoring involving transfer of knowledge from moreto- less-experienced individuals; competences of a mentor in context of personal and professional requirements are also presented. A web-based community service approach by using social media is outlined, which supports KT through mentoring in Communities of Practice (CoPs). They are networks of individuals who share a domain of interest and knowledge about which they communicate (online in the case of Virtual Communities of Practice - VCoPs). In the last parts of the paper examples from two projects are given. The project IBB 2 (http://www.lebenshilfeguv. at/unsere_dienste/eu_projekte/ibb_2_integrative_behindertenbetreuung) is a European Leonardo innovation transfer project aimed to support people with disabilities to entry and to be successfully integrated into professional life through DC and the mentoring approach. One of the aims of the project Net Knowing 2.0 (http://www.netknowing.com/) is to help SMEs to turn their daily work into a source of corporate learning for all their employees and to support KT by efficient using of informal learning and introducing a mentoring approach.

This paper describes a two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership that concluded in September 2011. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) is a UK-wide activity that helps organisations to improve their competitiveness and productivity by making better use of knowledge, technology and skills within universities, colleges and research organisations. This paper details the outcome of a KTP between Age UK Newcastle and Northumbria University’s School of Design that aimed to use Design approaches to improve the charity’s services. This paper will describe the recent context for organisations operating in the Voluntary Community Sector and discuss the relevance of a Design approach to both the improvement of customer services in this circumstance, as well as the transfer of knowledge to a capacity-starved organisation. It will also document how Design was used to achieve both of these aims, and the resulting impact of this engagement on the organisation and stakeholders.

This paper introduces the concept of living labs and shows the results of a survey of the living labs network. The main value of the study is that it provides findings about the diversity of living labs, how they engage with users and how strong the relationships are between living labs.

This paper describes the work carried out by the University of Ulster to transfer knowledge and expertise to social enterprises. It sets the Northern Ireland social economy sector in context and highlights the exemplary manner in which Ulster supports social enterprises in innovative ways to help the sector prosper. A number of examples are explored to demonstrate how knowledge is transferred to the sector.

Using over 200,000 U.S. patent citations, we test whether knowledge transfers in the transportation sector are sensitive to distance, and whether that sensitivity has changed over time. Controlling for self-citation by inventor, assignee and examiner, multivariate regression analysis shows that physical distance is becoming less important for spillovers with time, albeit in a nonlinear fashion.

This paper aims to enhance understanding on inter-organizational information sharing through a study in a Portuguese SME Innovation Network, which is composed of innovative firms from different economical sectors. The type of information shared was identified as well as the channels used, the gains obtained and the factors that influence its occurrence. A qualitative approach was used based on the perception of members and coordination. The motivating role played by the coordination of the network is a point to emphasize regarding the collective sharing of information. Factors related to network structure, national culture, characteristics of the companies and channels used were identified as inhibitors to a greater identification between the companies. Moreover, the factors that influence the information sharing process between the companies and its most important information sharing partners within the network were also identified.

This paper outlines how collaborative approaches were used to successfully generate research opportunities and enhance knowledge transfer in the development of new products. The researchers were drawn from across four disciplines within the University of Ulster and worked closely with an industrial partner to develop and test new approaches to the design and development of soft body armour. The paper highlights the drivers needed to support interdisciplinary collaboration and examines motivations for co-operation between industry and universities in the transfer, exchange and management of knowledge. A research project, highlighting two case studies demonstrates that design- and science-based partnerships can be successful in creating and transferring new knowledge.

Knowledge as the main competitive advantage in the world economy has very important role in countries development. So it seems necessary for the universities, as the main institution of knowledge generation, to participate in national and regional economic development. compiling a proper pattern of academic entrepreneurship and commercial knowledge transfer becomes more evident if the need for income earning and knowledge commercialization for survival of the universities and existence of barriers to integral exploitation of universities’ intellectual properties are considered. In this paper we tried to provide a model for the commercialization of knowledge in universities. Regarding the commercial knowledge transfer methods of five top universities of the world according to the ranking of The Times Higher Education-QS 2007 (Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London); this research is devoted to compiling a benchmarked pattern. The factors extracted from this pattern are then ranked according to experts’ viewpoints using analytic hierarchy process. According to the findings of this study “Adopting incentive policies in royalty sharing for faculties” is most important from the perspective of academic entrepreneurship and knowledge commercialization experts, and “Networking”, “financial support”, “creating the necessary structures” and “Faculty freedom” are placed in the next priorities, respectively.

Northern Powergrid are responsible for the distribution of electrical energy to 3.8 million customers in the North East of England, Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. They are accountable to the industry regulator OFGEM, in particular for the level of network risk, as measured by the frequency and duration of interruptions of supply to customers. Durham University has extensive experience of research into Power Systems, and of working with the electricity distribution industry both in the UK and overseas.

In spite of practical e-commerce and m-commerce issues being regarded as solved problems by the academic community, small to medium sized enterprises are still having implementation problems. Likewise, academics are not always fully aware of the issues facing industry in terms of adoption of new (and not so new) technologies and adaptation of processes.

This paper will examine the nature of KTP’s (knowledge transfer partnerships) and a case study involving an m-commerce project in the building industry. This is innovative for this sector giving the company which is the subject of the case study a potential first mover advantage. Factors to be considered when developing contemporary e-commerce projects and the challenges of m-commerce will be discussed.

Knowledge for Business (K4B) is a new knowledge transfer delivery framework developed within the University of Hertfordshire to supply a KT solution where traditional grant funded systems may not apply or prove too inflexible. It is designed to address two key drivers; a) for the University to demonstrate the impact of its academic activities and b) address a business demand to innovate by acquiring new capabilities in a highly flexible and structured way.

This article attempts to describe recent paths in University-Industry linkages in the Italian University system. In the last decades University vision has fundamentally changed together with its structure and goals. A large debate has raised towards and main findings have been shared around several aspects that are impossible to be adequately covered, nevertheless we present an outlook of the general trends and literature. One of the most challenging development of University has been the mass education expansion (Trow, 1973), and the rising number of undergraduates that have stimulated a sensitive growth in number and size of many Universities. In the international frame also institutions differentiation of the overall higher education system has been pointed out as a strategic focus on which the actors will be engaged in the future (Bonaccorsi 2007). Moreover, a large part of the literature has been dedicated to knowledge society (Etzkovitz, 2003) and service market economy, an issue that has incentivized an increasing interaction between University and the external actors, and its “openness” (Slaughter and Leslie, 1997). Beyond the first and the second mission (respectively represented by teaching and research), a third stream of activities has come up as “dissemination or outreach activities” (Gulbrandsen et al. 2007), exploring the degree of entrepreneurship in the current University system (Etzkovitz, 2000). University-industry knowledge transfer represents a key research subject in the economics studies, and a critical issue in science and technology policy agenda of several countries, and inevitably linked to innovation policy, whereas innovation deals not only with specific firms but with a huge field of institutions that aim to develop technological system at national level (Lundvall, 1992).

The Welsh Government is fully committed to supporting development of knowledge economy and encouraging academic institutions to play a greater role in economic and social development of Wales by aggregating resources, reducing duplication of initiatives and encouraging creative expansion of innovation in Welsh businesses and academia.

Development and creation of the knowledge transfer continuum is a long term task that requires not only dedication and passion of all involved but also necessary funding to start the process going.

This paper highlights commitment and support the Welsh Government is giving to this highly desirable course of action.

This paper explores the important link between the knowledge exchange activities of small businesses and universities, and the co-production and co-creation of value as perceived by the small business owner-manager. Small business owner-managers seek out information to help identify opportunities, especially information that formalizes their mental schemas around positive outputs and outcomes associated with innovation adoption and dissemination. More importantly, these same owner-managers identify advisors within these knowledge exchange encounters that will help them develop their mental schemas to understand the requirements for change, analyse the existing or latent market needs, and through this develop new understanding. We present our findings in the form of a map detailing the co-production/co-creation of value derived from university-small business collaboration, and some insights into the motivation, rationale and experiences of both parties. We conclude with our understanding of the outcomes and impacts derived, and suggestions on how the collaborative partners could better manage the whole process.

The spoken agreement between society and university education that provided expanding resources in return for greater right of entry for students as well as researchers and service to society has gone down, which at this moment demands some retrospection before setting for future agenda in this regard. This paper discusses some of the innovative challenges of university education in country like India. Challenges such as autonomy and accountability, the role of research and teaching, academic reform and the curriculum, and the implications of the massive expansion that have characterized universities in many countries are of primary concern here.