Working with business in Wales David Rosser Director

Working with business in Wales David Rosser, Director, CBI Wales Welsh ILO Group 11 June 2010

Agenda ● CBI Background ● CBI & HE policy ● Economic renewal programme ● Economic development impact of HE – reality check

“Companies and universities are not natural partners: their cultures and their missions are different. ” Lambert Review of business-university collaboration, 2003

CBI Mission and Membership CBI Mission “to help create and sustain the conditions in which businesses in the UK can compete and prosper for the benefit of all” CBI Membership ● Most large companies active in the UK ● Many SMEs ● Most trade associations ● About 60 universities – including most of the Russell Group

Welsh membership ● Nine of top ten Welsh companies ● Inward investors ● Outward looking SMEs ● 7 HEIs plus Open ● 4 FEIs ● Wales Council members include 4 HE reps plus Chair of HEFCW

CBI policy on innovation, science and technology ● Investment in R&D and innovation is essential to drive the UK’s economic recovery ● It will underpin future growth in productivity and competitiveness. ● It will also provide the basis for tackling major global challenges (climate change, international security, threats to health, growing constraints on supplies of natural resources, etc). ● The UK must ¢ maintain its standing as a world leader in scientific research ¢ strengthen its position as a place for businesses to locate and expand all their R&D and innovation-related activities.

The CBI and business-university partnerships: ICARG Inter-Company Academic Relations Group (ICARG) 30 -40 university research liaison managers from R&D-intensive companies – ‘inward KT professionals’ Quarterly meetings, usually at member sites Policy development and communication Best practice / networking Representatives of BIS, HEFCE, RCUK, TSB, UUK, AURIL

Benefits of business-university engagement: as ICARG members see it “Recruitment and staff training are direct benefits. We prime universities to prepare the skills for the future of the sector” Not all the skills we need are available inhouse – they offer their own knowledge and also their links with the global academic network” “University researchers challenge and inform in-house staff” “They have extensive facilities and equipment that just could not be justified in the company” “Through universities we can help reposition the profile of our traditional industry to the stakeholders” “A big benefit of the EPSRC partnership (as well as the funding) was the fact that, as intended, it attracted a lot of universities that we had no prior contact with or even knowledge of”

Reasons for companies to engage with universities include – ● as a cost-effective and flexible extension of the R&D resources available to the company ● to leverage activity and funding through collaborative programmes (Research Councils, TSB, Framework Programme etc) ● to identify possible new recruits ● to support and influence the supply of relevant skills ● to develop networks with academics ● to promote a positive image of the company

Universities benefit too ● Research ¢ Engagement with business-relevant challenges ¢ Access to company knowledge and resources ● Teaching – adding knowledge of real current problem-solving challenges to the curriculum ● Training for early-career researchers in business-relevant work ● New strategic opportunities for engagement ● Increasing recruitment / secondment / internship possibilities

What do businesses look for? Points to note ● Companies come in different shapes and sizes: ¢ Large vs small ¢ High-tech vs medium tech ¢ Sectoral variation: ● Time to market – fast or slow ● Patent-based or not ¢ ‘University-savvy’ vs newcomers

What do businesses look for? More points to note ● Companies need to make profits ● All R&D/training is a cost ● Costs are immediate and visible ● Benefits are slow, hard to see, and may never come ● Being an ‘external partnerships manager’ is not usually a fast-track to the boardroom

What do businesses look for? Yet more points to note ● Companies are made of many people ● Most of them are not R&D-focused ● University liaison is a very specialised role ● Senior management like to see results ● In a threatening world ICARG members & university directors of enterprise / PVCs (research and innovation) are potential allies – both want evidence of impact ● ‘Knowledge already known’ can be worth more than new research

Stronger Together: CBI HE Taskforce report What will success look like? ● Strong business/HE partnerships with needs and outcomes aligned ● Sustainable and more efficient HE sector with the right incentives to deliver high-quality teaching and research ● Businesses more active in developing students’ skills and experience before graduation ● Marked increase in quality and quantity of STEM graduates ● Richer experience for students ● More universities engaged in collaborative research and workforce training

WAG Economic Renewal Programme Storyline: ● Recognise the need for radical change ● Make growing the private sector the overarching goal ● Choose the most effective deliverer of public services ● Radically improve the business environment ● Then, and only then, worry about business support “Wales’ economic renewal is too big a job to be left to DET, every department and minister in WAG must account for how they have helped to grow the private sector”

Economic renewal programme Great business environment ● Infrastructure ● Planning ● Education and skills ● Innovation ● Procurement ● Deregulation and legislation Grants? ● Mobile FDI, green economy, innovation

Economic development impact of HE in Wales ● We all talk it up, but. . ● Few research intensive businesses ● Little substantive working outside the top handful of welsh based businesses – acknowledge work with UK/multinationals ● Too expensive ● Getting better, but quickly enough?

How serious are you? ● ILOs attend Governing body? Strategic Planning Committee? ● Vice chancellors know all local businesses of scale? ● Set up separate structures (on a commercial footing) to deliver training, consultancy, exploit IP? ● Altered your offering to reflect what your local third mission market wants?

He means it you know!