Innovation

The United Kingdom is a leader in physical science research with four universities in the top ten worldwide. Imperial College, London, stands fifth in the Times Higher Education SupplementWorld University rankings and contributes significantly in these disciplines.

“QinetiQ recognises that it is essential to link into top flight universities like Imperial College in order to widen its own network and deepen its understanding from a pedigree academic position rather than a consulting one. It wants deep, rigorous, academic research with robust findings that enable it to maximise the benefit of the physical sciences in business.”
David Gann, Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Tanaka Business School, Imperial College

Challenge

• QinetiQ is a leading international defence and security technology business which needs a source of deep, robust academic research to achieve maximum business benefit from the physical sciences.
• Imperial College has a longstanding commitment to ensure that its research and ideas are put into practice so it is vital to forge close links with industry.

Solution

• The two organisations have joined together in a strategic partnership designed to provide mutual benefits for both and also for their customers and funding organisations.
• This is consistent with Government aims of providing an avenue for encouraging business and industry to work more closely with academia and so drive forward the national economy.

Results

• QinetiQ and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have jointly funded a £1 million professorship of technology transfer in the physical sciences at Imperial – the first of its kind in the world.
• This aims to increase knowledge transfer in the physical sciences to the levels already achieved by the life sciences.
• University benefits include opportunities to bid for new research programmes, the ability to obtain research, business and market knowledge, student employment opportunities and staff exchanges and secondments.
• For QinetiQ, the benefits include expanded business opportunities through innovation, supplementary technical expertise, shared specialist facilities and access to new graduate recruits.
• Their customers can benefit from integrated project teams, better intellectual and physical resources to meet their requirements, robustresearch management, reduced contractual overheads and the scope for linking programmes across wide fields of activity.
• In the longer term, the UK economy will benefit from pragmatic use of research findings.