Business Engagement, Civic and Cultural Partnerships
03 Jul 2024
Richard Allmendinger explains the rationale for a new Business Engagement, Civic and Cultural Partnerships strategy across the Faculty of Humanities.
In recent years we have seen a consistent and demonstrable increase in business engagement and knowledge transfer activities across the Faculty, leading to a growth and diversification in external income streams, knowledge exchange and impact. This has resulted in many joint research and knowledge exchange projects which, in turn, have led to sizeable research grants and contracts. Indeed, we are increasingly seeing research funding calls that require or encourage multi-disciplinary collaborations and academic-business partnerships, so the funding environment is also driving motivation for collaborations with non-academic partners. This aligns with our increasing emphasis on turning research outputs into tangible impact.
Interaction with external organisations for teaching and learning purposes has increased too, such as MSc programmes with applied dissertation projects set by partners, guest lectures, and sponsored PhD studentships. In summary, there is a growing awareness of the opportunities for engagement and collaboration with non-academic partners and this is also reflected in increased attendance at our workshops, enquiries to our team, and bids for dedicated knowledge exchange funding such as Knowledge Transfer Projects, CASE studentships, and collaborative research programmes.
In putting together the new strategy, we wanted to further develop both awareness and understanding of Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange (BEKE) within our academic community, linking BEKE to current and future work on impact, social responsibility, and public engagement in research and teaching. We also wanted to increase joint initiatives across disciplines, schools, and faculties, and to identify, understand, and address existing and emerging barriers faced by colleagues to BEKE engagement.
The biggest issue in developing the strategy has to some extent been the lack of awareness of the nature and scope of the BEKE portfolio, or the diversity of potential funding and engagement mechanisms, and this is something we are really keen to address.
As well as building and developing existing external partnerships we also want to create new ones, focusing on civic and cultural partnerships, and on engagement with organisations based outside the UK. We also want to engage more with postgraduate and early career researchers, increasing awareness and opportunities for engagement via educational programmes.
One of our key goals over the next 18 months is to support the delivery of several Innovation Labs and showcases to demonstrate our research expertise, expand networks, and build foundations for follow-on activities with external partners. The new strategy will also help us to broaden the pool of academics engaging with external partners, increase the number of Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) applications, and submit more Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) applications over the coming years. It is important that all our activities also feed into University of Manchester strategic priorities such as impact creation, social responsibility, ID Manchester, internationalisation, and commercialisation opportunities.
Our Scale-Up Forum also offers networking and peer learning opportunities and includes a range of industry speakers from high growth businesses. The team will also continue to expand relationships with UoM strategy partners and key business support organisations such as MIDAS, Business Growth Company, Pro-Manchester, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Bruntwood, Manchester Digital, Enterprise Exchange, Sci-Tech Daresbury, and Alderley Park.
Richard Allmendinger is a Professor of Applied Artificial Intelligence and Associate Dean for Business Engagement, Civic and Cultural Partnerships in the Faculty.
- Further information about Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange.