Case 4 - Technology translation for PPARC

PPARC - The UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. This is a Non-Departmental Government Body, which disburses over £200m of grants per annum for research in these subject areas to Universities in the UK, telescope sites in Hawaii, La Palma and Australia, and to its international collaborations with the European Space Agency (ESA), European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the European Particle Physics Laboratory (CERN). This whizzy science demands ever more advanced technologies, which are also of interest to industry. We provide an "Industry Co-ordination" service, which supports business-industry partnerships through promotion to academics, visits to industry, workshops, mailing, web site and magazine promotion and, above all, a personalised presence supporting formation of partnerships "technology translation". In the past two years, we have supported 5 new spinout companies, over 30 new partnerships and encouraged many more to apply for funds from Science and Technology Facilities Council's well-developed and helpful industry support programmes.

We work as part of the PPARC Industry & Technology team, promoting Science and Technology Facilities Council & CERN to industry - in essence, we are part of the team and promote ourselves as such, rather than as a third party.

CERN
The European Particle Physics Laboratory (CERN) has a Technology Transfer department, for which we act as "UK Technology Transfer Co-ordinator". We are thus the UK contact point for transfer of technologies developed at CERN and suitable for transfer to UK industry. These technologies may be in the form of licensable patents, collaborative development opportunities or University spinout companies.

• In both cases, we deliver a programme against a set of agreed performance targets
• We propose and follow themed programmes by technology and industry sector (e.g. space, aerospace, optics, medical imaging, medical optics, financial services, pharmaceutical)
• We organise a series of workshops to bring industry together with Science and Technology Facilities Council and CERN research groups and other organisations such as trade associations and the DTI/NHS/DoH. These have been very successful in developing working partnerships.
• Visits to Universities and companies to promote partnerships
• Spinout companies - support for researchers and stimulation to the process
• Manage databases, mailing activities
• Create text for brochures & web sites

We have developed a good understanding of the range of support mechanisms to support industry and spinout companies and have participated in review and development of these schemes.

There is plenty of published material available on our work for these organisations. Please visit Science and Technology Facilities Council's web site at www.stfc.ac.uk for some links.

For further information on our technology translation work for the public sector, please contact Nathan Hill at Qi3.