ESRC: Creating wealth from knowledge

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Thursday, 06, Mar 2008 12:00

Every year, our universities, research institutes and companies produce a wealth of research findings. But how does this new knowledge get transformed into positive economic and social benefit? This evening seminar, Creating Wealth from Knowledge, organised by the Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM) as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Festival of Social Science, explores themes around capturing innovation value from knowledge investments.

The UK spends £21 billion per annum on creating new knowledge. This forms part of an estimated £600 billion that is spent by OECD countries around the world and involving some 3 million researchers. But what do we get for this investment - and is it enough? The great challenge of innovation is not simply to create knowledge, but to use it in ways that have a positive economic and social impact. Understanding and improving how UK firms use knowledge is the goal of the Innovation and Productivity Grand Challenge – a key initiative funded by both the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the ESRC, through the AIM.

This event will bring together business people, academics and brokers. It will give the audience a chance to understand the issue from three different perspectives. There will be plenty of scope for discussion. The seminar will be followed by drinks and light refreshments, which offers an opportunity for networking and further discussion. Attendance is free but places are limited.

The seminar will be chaired by Professor John Bessant, AIM Senior Fellow and Chair in Innovation Management at Tanaka Business School, Imperial College.

• Duncan Varnes, Plant Director - GKN Driveline Walsall Ltd will share his experiences of getting innovation to happen in the business context.

• David Coates, Innovation Exchange will talk about the emerging role of brokers and intermediaries in ‘open innovation’ systems – and the skills set and activities linked to this complex but increasingly important bridging role in innovation.

• Professor David Gann, Imperial College will talk about some of the open innovation challenges emerging, drawing on case work within IBM and other organisations.

The Festival of Social Science celebrates some of the country’s leading social science research, giving an exciting opportunity to show everyone what the UK’s social scientists are doing and will demonstrate how their work makes a difference to all our lives.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Claire Fitzpatrick AIM on Tel: 0870 734 3000: e-mail: aimevents@wbs.ac.uk

ESRC Press Office:

Kelly Barnett on Tel: 01793 413032; e-mail: kelly.barnett@esrc.ac.uk

Danielle Moore on Tel: 01793 413122; e-mail: danielle.moore@esrc.ac.uk

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

1. Venue information:

Registration opens at 17.00

Event starts 17.30, finishes 19.00

Drinks and canapés and networking opportunities from 19.00 onwards

Directions to Woburn House Conference Centre can be found at

http://www.woburnhouse.co.uk/location/

To register, complete the online form http://forms.london.edu/form.asp?id=8944

2. Further information about AIM can be found at www.aimresearch.org

3. The Festival of Social Science week is run by the Economic and Social Research Council which runs from the 7th to the 16th March 2008, alongside National Science and Engineering Week. It celebrates some of the very best British social science research, as well as highlighting the ways in which social science makes a difference to everyday lives. Press releases detailing some of the varied events are available at www.esrcfestival.ac.uk

4. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It supports independent, high quality research relevant to business, the public sector and voluntary organisations. The ESRC’s planned total expenditure in 2007 - 08 is £181 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk

5. ESRC Society Today offers free access to a broad range of social science research and presents it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and saves users valuable time. As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research and key online resources such as the Social Science Information Gateway and the UK Data Archive, non-ESRC resources are included, for example the Office for National Statistics. The portal provides access to early findings and research summaries, as well as full texts and original datasets through integrated search facilities. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk