Searching for a knowledge and technology transfer area
The need to share knowledge and technology is of utmost importance for the creation of a Europe-wide research area and in the process boosting Europe's competitiveness in order to cater for the increase in competition emanating from other parts of the...
The need to share knowledge and technology is of utmost importance for the creation of a Europe-wide research area and in the process boosting Europe's competitiveness in order to cater for the increase in competition emanating from other parts of the world. It is for this reason that today knowledge and technology transfer are the main objectives of the re-launched European Research Area (ERA).
The EU member states have been quite active in recent years, especially in their national reform programmes, developed under the Lisbon strategy, in devising initiatives to promote and facilitate knowledge and technological transfer. However, these initiatives have often been designed with a national perspective in mind, and fail to address the transnational dimension of transfer. This problem is further augmented with various obstacles remaining when it comes to the sharing of information between institutions (universities, colleges, public research centres etc.) in the member states.
At a recent conference held in Brussels on the conditions for efficient transfer in Europe, representatives from the industry, research and the EU institutions gathered to voice their concerns on what is hindering technological and knowledge transfer in Europe. Among the topics under discussion were intellectual property management, mobility of researchers, conditions for the creation of spin-off companies, the role of national standards and regulations, increased industry-academia collaboration, the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) and the working conditions of scientists. Some of the problems that were discussed included the importance of proper management of IPR-related issues in order to have successful technology transfers. Presently in Europe not enough people work specifically on knowledge transfer. Pierre Vigier, acting head of the unit on innovation policy at the Commission's Enterprise Directorate General pointed out the need for a change of mindset in public research organisations and universities, arguing that time spent with industry should be "at the core of their activities". He added that the conditions for the free market of knowledge in Europe were still missing and said the European Commission aims to remedy this by eliminating any remaining barriers for free movement of researchers.
Mr Vigier also noted that the reason as to why EU start-ups tend to remain SMEs and hardly ever grow above 50 employees is that the absence of a true internal EU market acts as a major hindrance and leaves enterprises to market their products only at national level.
Magnus Madfors, director of R&D policy at Ericsson, one of the main speakers of the conference argued that the main means of boosting transfer is to ensure that the different actors understand each others' needs. He pointed out that academia and universities should "understand the future needs of industry in order to do research on the right sector", while the industry should understand the "knowledge and the needs of the academia", present its vision of the future, so that academics can see if it has any potential research that could fit that vision.
From an EU-wide consultation carried out approximately two years ago three main obstacles to transnational research collaboration were identified. These are cultural differences, regulatory differences, and difficulties in finding partners. In order to try and address these difficulties, the commission last year published a communication entitled Improving Knowledge Transfer Between Research Institutions And Industry Across Europe: Embracing Open Innovation in order to initiate a debate on transfer. At the same time it issued "guidelines" on how various research institutions can collaborate better. Last April, the commission also adopted a recommendation on the "management of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities and Code of Practice for universities and other public research organisations". The commission now plans in the near future to create a university-industry knowledge transfer forum in order to give public authorities, universities and other public research organisations and industry a place to meet and coordinate their actions.
• Mr Cuschieri is an executive at Impetus Europe Consulting Group Ltd.
The EU member states have been quite active in recent years, especially in their national reform programmes, developed under the Lisbon strategy, in devising initiatives to promote and facilitate knowledge and technological transfer. However, these initiatives have often been designed with a national perspective in mind, and fail to address the transnational dimension of transfer. This problem is further augmented with various obstacles remaining when it comes to the sharing of information between institutions (universities, colleges, public research centres etc.) in the member states.
At a recent conference held in Brussels on the conditions for efficient transfer in Europe, representatives from the industry, research and the EU institutions gathered to voice their concerns on what is hindering technological and knowledge transfer in Europe. Among the topics under discussion were intellectual property management, mobility of researchers, conditions for the creation of spin-off companies, the role of national standards and regulations, increased industry-academia collaboration, the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) and the working conditions of scientists. Some of the problems that were discussed included the importance of proper management of IPR-related issues in order to have successful technology transfers. Presently in Europe not enough people work specifically on knowledge transfer. Pierre Vigier, acting head of the unit on innovation policy at the Commission's Enterprise Directorate General pointed out the need for a change of mindset in public research organisations and universities, arguing that time spent with industry should be "at the core of their activities". He added that the conditions for the free market of knowledge in Europe were still missing and said the European Commission aims to remedy this by eliminating any remaining barriers for free movement of researchers.
Mr Vigier also noted that the reason as to why EU start-ups tend to remain SMEs and hardly ever grow above 50 employees is that the absence of a true internal EU market acts as a major hindrance and leaves enterprises to market their products only at national level.
Magnus Madfors, director of R&D policy at Ericsson, one of the main speakers of the conference argued that the main means of boosting transfer is to ensure that the different actors understand each others' needs. He pointed out that academia and universities should "understand the future needs of industry in order to do research on the right sector", while the industry should understand the "knowledge and the needs of the academia", present its vision of the future, so that academics can see if it has any potential research that could fit that vision.
From an EU-wide consultation carried out approximately two years ago three main obstacles to transnational research collaboration were identified. These are cultural differences, regulatory differences, and difficulties in finding partners. In order to try and address these difficulties, the commission last year published a communication entitled Improving Knowledge Transfer Between Research Institutions And Industry Across Europe: Embracing Open Innovation in order to initiate a debate on transfer. At the same time it issued "guidelines" on how various research institutions can collaborate better. Last April, the commission also adopted a recommendation on the "management of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities and Code of Practice for universities and other public research organisations". The commission now plans in the near future to create a university-industry knowledge transfer forum in order to give public authorities, universities and other public research organisations and industry a place to meet and coordinate their actions.
• Mr Cuschieri is an executive at Impetus Europe Consulting Group Ltd.