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07/08/2009
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Tom Shelley talks to a university director of about what academia can do to help industry
 Dr Steve Woodhead, director of research and enterprise for the School of Engineering at the University of Greenwich began by saying: "My own view is that there is something of a challenge in making firms aware of how we can help them. But, it is a tough job finding a way to communicate with them."
He told us that the latest programme the University is taking part in is Knowledge Connect, a London Development Agency and European Regional Development Fund support initiative which gives companies vouchers between the values of £3,000 to £10,000, match funded with money and/or time to pay for expert support.
Expertise from the University of Greenwich is oriented heavily in practical directions. The institution, according to Dr Woodhead, is particularly strong in IT security, electronics (including the switch to lead free solder), manufacturing, concrete and bulk solids handling.
As regards to IT, Woodhead says: "Most small companies don't even recognise what their obligations are. We can provide them with advice, knowledge and the benefit of our experience and expertise."
Apart from the new Knowledge Connect programme, Dr Woodhead added that, 'there is often a way of getting Government to help', making particular reference to the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). The School of Engineering is currently involved in five KTPs, up from one just two years ago. Each two year programme is 60% funded by Government.
One particular challenge is helping the UK manufacturing industry to move forward. "We have to accept that the engineering world has changed," he says. "Manufacturing has also changed hugely. People don't stand by lathes and milling machines any more. You probably need one technician to set the machines up and two or three CAD people to do what 20 people did before."
While he accepted that a lot of manufacturing work has gone overseas, he points out, "the UK economy is stable because a lot of work that was previously undertaken in-house is now undertaken by service companies. Although something designed in the UK is likely to be made elsewhere, it is still generating value."
Greenwich University's contribution to this effort, Dr Woodhead points out, includes its Centre for Innovative Product Development founded in 2006. He said that: "A lot of its work is to make design information available to other people within the same organisation," citing work with BAE Systems.
We asked about the growing challenge of Far Eastern countries not only to offer cheaper manufacturing costs, but also to innovate competitively, as exemplified by the 1,529 different Chinese battery electric cars offered on the website, www.alibaba.com, many of them with EEC homologation.
"We need to move more towards a knowledge based economy producing high technology designs," he says. "We do a lot of knowledge management here. Expert knowledge and expertise is the way forward. The UK is famous for inventing things. But, we need to develop our intellectual property protection strategies much better than we have in the past."
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Author
Dr Tom Shelley
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