News

Last month we had the great pleasure of welcoming Dr Tim Fishlock to the team as our new Head of Professional and Community Development. Tim joins us from Health Enterprise East where he served as Head of Technology Transfer in the Innovation Team for over 3 years, helping to commercialise IP developed within their NHS member Trusts.

​​​​​​​PraxisAuril welcomes the government’s Innovation Strategy, launched on 22nd July by Secretary of State, Kwasi Kwarteng. The importance of Knowledge Exchange was demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic – notably in the vaccine development – and we are excited about the potential for growth and increased recognition of our community, building on the UK’s global reputation for KE.

YES21 has been devised for you to understand the processes involved in bringing an idea to market but also nurture a positive, effective team environment to develop a presentation that shows the business could be viable, investable and ultimately successful.

New ideas to help tackle Covid-19 or prepare for future pandemics are set to get a major boost from the medical research charity, LifeArc.

As part of ARMA’s continuing commitment to providing professional development opportunities to our members, we are seeking to appoint two new Board Members/ Directors to replace Linsey Dickson and John Rogers, who stand down this summer.

31 March 2021 Information about the ways universities help level up their local areas is one of the highlights of the data released in the first iteration of Research England’s Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) at midday today (31 March 2021).

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) part of UK Research and Innovation, is currently seeking proposals to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Enterprise Fellowship programme which supports researchers who wish to play a key role in the commercialisation of their research.

Dear PraxisAuril friends and colleagues,   We have an exciting time ahead at PraxisAuril as we exploit digital channels, develop our offering in response to the changing needs of the many differing segments of the KE community and seek to grow our wonderful and committed volunteer base.  We are keen to have as broad a group of people as possible participating as volunteer trainers, board members, conference contributors and much more.  I hope you consider getting involved in a way that interests and suits you.

A new programme of support for businesses in South London, was launched today by Councillor Gareth Roberts, Leader of Richmond Council and Chair of the South London Partnership, a sub-regional collaboration of five London boroughs; Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton.

As some of you may know, Alasdair Cameron, Director of Strategic Engagement will be moving on from PraxisAuril in the next few months.

Universities UK  (UUK) and GuildHE have released documents detailing how HEIs in England can sign-up to the eight KE Concordat principles and participate in the KEC development year. The KE Concordat is a UK-wide initiative with different arrangements in different nations of the UK, however institutions from across the UK can participate in the development year.

Universities UK (UUK) has released the long-awaited Knowledge Exchange (KE) Concordat to ensure that universities and other providers of higher education and research work as effectively as possible with each other, with businesses and with other organisations. This comes at a vital time as the UK continues to fight back against Covid-19 and as PraxisAuril members demonstrate the importance of knowledge exchange to local and national economic and social outcomes. Improving links between universities and businesses will further develop societal and economic impact. Universities can build on their leading role in society and develop links between UK institutions, industry and local communities by committing to better exchange of information, knowledge and skills.

ATTP, the global alliance of national peak professional bodies for commercialisation, industry engagement and entrepreneurship, has a new chair – Dr Tim Boyle, Director of Innovation & Commercialisation at ANSTO, Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. At ANSTO, Dr Boyle leads nandin, ANSTO’s Innovation Centre and drives strategic initiatives towards challenge-based innovation, research commercialisation and economic development.

PraxisAuril has responded to the UK government's R&D roadmap. The Roadmap sets out government objectives for R&D across Parliament (2024-25) alongside the previously announced £22 million budget. PrA members need to understand how these will affect knowledge exchange, not least because there are intentions to create a new funding agency (based on the USA's ARPA) and shake up research funding structures more generally.

​​​​​​​The KE Awards (previously known as the ‘Impact Awards’) is an initiative organised by PraxisAuril, the UK’s world-leading professional association for Knowledge Exchange (KE) practitioners. The Awards celebrate the contribution of KE professionals to generating societal and economic impact from research.   Celebrating the impact of our research base regionally, nationally and internationally is more relevant than ever today, as UK universities and research organisations mobilise incredible activities and projects to fight the COVID-19 crisis. Some of these initiatives are represented among the finalists below.  Sponsored by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), an organisation working in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish, the KE Awards will recognise and celebrate the people behind outstanding KE achievements, in all areas of research. Celebrating the impact of our research base regionally, nationally and internationally is more relevant than ever today, as UK universities and research organisations mobilise incredible activities and projects to fight the COVID-19 crisis. Some of these initiatives are represented among the finalists below. 

Dear PraxisAuril Friends and Colleagues, It will, I expect, come as little surprise to you that the PraxisAuril Board has agreed that given the current COVID-19 situation, we will be postponing the PraxisAuril Conference until next year.

PraxisAuril will support a new award for the ‘Most effective initiative from a KTP Office’ in this year’s KTP Best of the Best Awards, using its established expertise to identify the approach that produces the best innovation or impact.

Research England has released a report detailing decisions and next steps for the KEF following last year’s consultation and pilot exercises. PraxisAuril is pleased to see that comments and contributions from universities, businesses and other sector stakeholders – including many PraxisAuril members – have been taken into account in the final metrics, narrative information, clusters, eligibility and timelines.

2019 has already been a fantastic year for PraxisAuril. With 173 member organisations and over 5000 people feeding into the PraxisAuril community, it has become the world’s biggest KE organisation outside of the US. With its growing pool of almost 400 volunteers, PraxisAuril continues to create and deliver world-leading training courses and has trained around 600 people in the UK, in this year alone. This annual report is summary of all that we have achieved together in the past 12 months.

North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium Ltd (NEUPC) is one of six UK Higher Education purchasing consortia established to deliver and manage a wide range of collaborative framework agreements designed to maximise third party expenditure within the higher education sector. The NEUPC will be holding an event for its HE consortia members to meet with suppliers in the Professional Services category group. The NEUPC will be holding an event for its HE consortia members to meet with suppliers in the Professional Services category group.

A new and simple blood test has been found to efficiently and accurately detect the presence of aggressive prostate cancer, according to research by Queen Mary University of London. In combination with the current prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, the new test could help men avoid unnecessary and invasive biopsies, over-diagnosis and over-treatment.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have created an antimicrobial coating for steel surfaces which has proven to rapidly kill bacteria that cause some of the most common hospital-acquired infections.  Developed by researchers at the University of Birmingham, patented by University of Birmingham Enterprise, and to be commercialised by a new company NitroPep, the coating – also called NitroPep - has been heralded as a new tool in the fight against the spread of infection.

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Wales have higher levels of confidence than their UK counterparts, despite challenging business conditions and increasing uncertainty of UK and global economic prospects, according to the first annual report published by Economic Intelligence Wales (EIW) today. The new research unit is a collaboration between Cardiff Business School, the Office for National Statistics and the Development Bank of Wales, created to monitor the activity of Welsh SMEs, factors affecting their development and the progress of the regional economy.

The SHAKE Climate Change programme is specifically designed to attract entrepreneurs or start-ups who have developed early stage science or tech-based ideas that can have a significant impact on climate change, as well as form the basis of a sustainable and socially responsible business within the sector. SHAKE Climate Change brings together experts from Rothamsted Research, Cranfield University, University College London, and the University of Hertfordshire with the financial backing of the Societe Generale UK Foundation to deliver world-class science, technology and business expertise to the programme.

A review of university-investor links has been published, commissioned by Research England from Mike Rees, former deputy group CEO of Standard Chartered, start-up commercialisation expert and angel investor.  Research England asked Mike Rees, former deputy group CEO of Standard Chartered, to review ways to strengthen university access to finance that supports spin-out company formation and university-investor relationships. The review focused on universities with large-scale investor links and those seeking support through schemes, such as the Research England Connecting Capability Fund (CCF). The Rees Review listened to advice from a broad range of stakeholders, through more than 90 interviews, and drew evidence from a data report by Tomas Coates Ulrichsen (Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI) Policy, University of Cambridge), also commissioned by Research England. 

The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Services Framework is a national agreement available to members of NEUPC, LUPC, SUPC, APUC, NWUPC, HEPCW. The IPR Services framework agreement gives members of NEUPC, LUPC, SUPC, APUC, NWUPC, HEPCW access to suppliers who can provide legal advice and guidance, licensing and registration services on all matters relating to the creation, development and production of patents, trademarks, copyright, design rights, trade secrets and intellectual property rights. NEUPC will be holding supplier review meetings with all the approved suppliers on the intellectual property rights (IPR) services framework from Monday 29th to Wednesday 31st July and would appreciate feedback on the IPR framework via a short survey.  The survey allows you to rate suppliers on various aspects of framework activity, including communication, pricing and tender responses.  The survey will close on Friday 26th July.

WHERE SCIENCE MEETS BUSINESS Falling Walls Venture is a global platform for the most promising research-based start-ups nominated by academic institutions from across the world. We provide a stage for pioneering founders who have turned science into business, creating entrepreneurial solutions for today’s most pressing challenges. The fast-paced pitch event is part of the 2-day Falling Walls Conference.

In vitro platform for retinal toxicity assessment and disease modelling Newcells Biotech Ltd. has developed an in vitro model of the retinal pigmented epithelium, to assess the safety and efficacy of novel ocular compounds. This technology could better predict the outcome in the human eye and reduce the number of animals used to assess the toxicity of ocular drugs. An end-user pharmaceutical company, able to provide access to ocular compounds and data with known in vivo/in vitro toxicity profiles, is sought to validate the model.