Technology Innovation Centres (TICs): Background Duncan Bremner

Hermann Hauser was commissioned to look at ‘The Current and Future Role of Technology and Innovation Centres in the UK’ by Lord Mandelson Secretary of State (BIS) Why? -The UK has a strong track record in science and innovation -UK has four of the world’s top six universities -UK produces 12% of all cited and 14% of the most highly cited papers -UK is recognised as one of Europe’s ‘Innovation Leaders’ But…. ‘…it has long been acknowledged that UK has not sufficiently capitalised on these strengths to capture economic benefit. This is in part down to a critical gap between research findings and outputs, and their development into commercial propositions.’ Background

There is a gap in the innovation cycle (TRL 4 - 6) within the UK Intention is for TICs to bridge the gap Why are they needed?

A shared rationale exists for developing TICs that bridge the gap between academic discovery and commercial exploitation…with long-term, sustained and predictable flows of public funding It is common for TICs to be focused on sectors or technologies which capitalise on local and national strengths rather than have a wider spread of institutes in many technology or sectoral fields. The workforce is recruited from the academic and private sector and possesses research, technology development and commercialisation skills * ETRI (Korea), ITRI(Taiwan), IMEC(Belgium), Fraunhofer(Germany), DARPA(USA), AIST(Japan) International Comparisons*

It is a physical centre with substantial investment to establish world-leading capability and global impact, in pre-commercial development. It provides access for business to the best technical expertise, infrastructure, skills and equipment that would otherwise be outside the reach of individual companies. It will provide an environment in which multi-disciplinary teams from a diverse range of backgrounds can work together to: –access to world leading technology and expertise –reach into the knowledge base for world-leading science and engineering –undertake collaborative applied research projects with business –be able to undertake contract research for business –be strongly business focused with a highly professional delivery ethos –create a critical mass of activity between business and the knowledge base –provide skills development at all levels What will a TIC do?

Technology Strategy Board (TSB) are tasked with delivering TICs in UK, 3 have already been selected: –High Value Manufacturing over 6 sites (not preferred model) –Cell Therapies (full applications by 2 nd September) –Offshore Renewable Energy (25 August for EOI) Second phase - 3 new areas are being considered from: Complex systemsDigital media/creative industriesFuture cities Future internet systems Resource efficiencyPhotonics Sensor systems Smart grids and distributionSpace Transport systems and integration TSB will down-select 3 in December 2011 for further work: –Favourites(?): Sensor Systems, Space, Transport Systems TIC Implementation

The TSB will examine the applications based upon the following selection criteria: –the potential global markets which could be accessed through the centre are predicted to be worth billions of pounds per annum –the UK has world-leading research capability –UK business has the ability to exploit the technology and make use of increased investment to capture a significant share of the value chain and embed the activity in the UK –enable the UK to attract and anchor the knowledge intensive activities of globally mobile companies and secure sustainable wealth creation for the UK –should be closely aligned with, and essential to achieve, a national strategic priority (energy, ageing population, ICT etc) TIC selection criteria

TSB favour the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 model; centres will need to generate their funding broadly equally from three sources: –business-funded R&D contracts, won competitively –collaborative applied R&D projects, funded jointly by the public and private sectors, also won competitively –core public funding for long-term investment in infrastructure, expertise and skills development It is envisaged that each centre will have a turnover of around £20-30m, with between 100 and 200 highly qualified staff each. Centres will need to attract around £10m to £15m per annum from business to be viable The TIC must be led by industrial partners Funding operational model

RCUK support for the Hauser report

Scottish Enterprise are closely aligned with TSB activities –In part, they represent TSB activities in Scotland SE have been actively supporting TICs and possible TIC bids from Scottish companies SE supported the SFC Horizon bid for the S3C proposal and will be a board observer to the S3C SE, similar to Universities, cannot lead a TIC bid but can facilitate the process –They have held a TIC workshop, attended by UoG along with other interested parties –Presently forming a small working group to focus on the challenges of preparing a bid SE understands that sensor systems are critical to Scotland’s economy Scottish Enterprise involvement

The University has: –an extensive portfolio of sensor systems activity –been awarded an SFC grant for the S3C in sensor systems –good industrial linkages to sensor companies –good linkages with RCUK to inform strategic direction There appears to be a desire to align the strategic objectives between RCUK and TSB to improve the competitive position of UK plc We can continue to work closely with Scottish Enterprise to support any industrial efforts to lobby the TSB to consider a sensor systems TIC –demonstrate our expertise and our industrial connections Opportunities for Glasgow

Thank you