1. The Impact of R&D on National and Local Economies
Geoff Rodgers
Vice Provost
Research
4 September 2018

2. Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Bridges
Tunnels
First ocean going steamship – SS Great Britain
First tunnel under a navigable river
The first entrepreneur
(Died early, in poverty, feeling under-appreciated)
The HE Leadership Landscape

3. “…know the relevance of that learning to the affairs of Our Realm.”
The HE Leadership Landscape

4. Contributions of HE R&D on economy
Highly skilled graduates Research and Innovation
The HE Leadership Landscape

5. Research Impact Quality of life Health Social Economic Cultural
The HE Leadership Landscape

6. How universities boost economic growth Anna Valero, John Van Reenen 10 November 2016 VoxEU
Growth in higher education has been driven by the view that human capital is essential for economic and social progress. This column uses a comprehensive international dataset covering 78 countries to show that on average, a 10% increase in the number of universities (roughly adding one more university to the average region in the data) increases a region’s income by 0.4%, with additional effects spilling over to other regions within the same country.
The HE Leadership Landscape

7. Supporting Productivity and Growth
Skills shortages
The HE Leadership Landscape

8. Science and Innovation Audit Innovation for Sustainable Airports
The HE Leadership Landscape

9. National Structural Integrity Research Centre
Initial Partners Academic Brunel (Lead), Manchester, Cambridge, UCL Industry TWI (Lead), Network Rail, Lloyds Register, BP
Funding Secured
HEFCE - £15 Million - Research Equipment
RGF - £20 Million – New Building
Industry - £45 Million – Research Projects
The HE Leadership Landscape

11. Brunel Activities at NSIRC
Deliver 2 Master’s Programmes (Structural Integrity and Oil & Gas).
Base for 5 Faculty (1 Prof, 1 Reader, 1 Senior Lecturer and 2 Lecturers)
Over 40 PhD students, many employed

12. First PhD Student, Anna Wojdyla, 2013
100th PhD Student, Dimitrios Fakis, 2017

13. Benefits for Brunel
Opportunity to lead a high profile national research centre
Annual intake of ~20 MSc students
Increase PhD student population by 180 (intake of 60 p.a. to NSIRC)
1000 companies engaged
Joint projects with 50 companies
25 inward secondments to the Centre from industry
Industry support of £4.5million per year

14. Brunel Academic Outcomes to date
64 research papers
Impact Case Studies (2 in 2014, 3-4 in 2021)
40 PhD Graduations
55 MSc graduates

15. Lessons Learnt Big difference in cultures
Understand what the partner is trying to achieve
Two large complex organisations
Continual investment in the relationship
Good governance essential
Avoid getting dragged into legal details

16. The HE Leadership Landscape