Dr Stephen Armstrong

– Head of Research Business Development

(Research and Innovation)

• Overview of R&I Office

• Project and systems examples

– Lesson learned

• What would make my life easier

Research and Innovation

• Integrated Office– Established in 1994

– Pre-Award , Post-Award, IPR Management, Licensing, Commercialisation, Post Graduate Student Support, Student Enterprise, International Development

– Line management to Senior Academic Officer responsible for Research and Knowledge Exchange

• However, budget held within Professional Services

• Not all Offices have this structure• Research Office – Commercial Office is often an alternative

model

DIRECTOR

Head of Business

Development

Service

Head of Grants &

Contracts Service

Head of

International

Business

Spin-Out Company

Development Manager

IPR Manager

Licensing Manager

Business Development

Managers (x3)

Business Development

Co-ordinator

SEN Project Team (x4)

Strathclyde Links Team

(x2)

Contracts

Managers (x6)

Research

Costing Officer

Database

Assistant

International

Programmes

Officer

Departmental

Secretary

Support Staff

(x2)

Head of Research

Development

Service

Faculty

Business

Development

Managers (x5)

Inter-

disciplinary

Project

Manager

Manager,

West of Scotnd

KTP Centre

Head of

PGR Office

Assistant CTA-

DTA Officer

Researcher

Training

Administrator

Administrative

Assistants (x2)

Deputy Manager

Business

Development

Managers (x2)

Secretaries (x2)

RESEARCH & INNOVATION

Activity Levels

• 1200 Projects Processed Annually – ( Research, Consultancy, Services Rendered)

• collaboration agreements , material transfer agreements, licence agreements

• £35m Research Awards ( 400 contracts per annum)

• EPSRC Collaborative Training Account– 320 Companies over a 3 year period

• IPR Management– New Invention Disclosure

• 40 per annum

– New Patent Applications• 15 per annum

• ( Portfolio of 100 patents)

• 3 – 4 Spin out Companies per annum

KTG Metrics and Grant

• Outreach

• Enterprise Schemes

• Consultancy

• CPD

• Industry,Gov

Research

• Licensing

• Venturing

• £188,223

• £176,186

• £307,828

• £773,862

• £724,074

• £38,302

• £34,525

£2,243,000

University

Management/Governance

• University Court

• Line Managers

• Principal, Deputy Principals

Senior Officers, University

Management Committee

Professional Services

• Finance

• Estates

• HR

• Press Office

• IT Services

Government

•Scottish Funding Council

•UK and Scottish Government

•Universities Scotland /UK

•Dept Business Innovation and Skills

Academics

• New academics/post docs

• Experienced academics/major

project leaders/pooling directors

• Inventors

Stakeholder Analysis

Research Funders

– Research Councils

– Govmt Departments

– Local Government

– EU – FP7

– Charities

– Industry

– NHS

– World Bank , UN

Industrial Partners

– SMEs

– Multinationals

– University Spin-outs

– Alumni Entrepreneurs

– Their contract / finance and legal

representatives

Other Universities

–National and International

–Academic Staff

–Pooling Directors & Senior Officers

–Other R&I type Depts

–Their contract / finance and legal

representatives

Commercialisation Partners

– Investors

– Venture Capitalists

– Interim CEOs

– Economic Development

Agencies

– Patent agents

– Lawyers

Current Tools

• Bespoke database for grants and contracts

• Costing Tool ( pFACT)

• IPR management software (Inteum)

• University Website

• External Websites– Interface

– University-technology.com

• Sharepoint• Intranet

• Funders electronic submission systems

• Embarking on the specification of a comprehensive Research Management Information System– Lead by IT Services

• Physical and Digital Publications

– Enterprise Matters

– Research Matters

• Webcasts

– S100 Events

• BCE Events Management

– Expo’09

– Technology Showcase

1. Marketing of Research

Capability2. Management of Bid Process

3. Initiating Research

Contracts

5. Manage Research

Outputs

4. Manage Research Contracts

Manage

Staff Information

6. Manage

Student Information

RAE

DB

Web

Sites

CMS

PFACT

Research

Profess

ional

Research

Research

Bid

Intranet

FIN

Funder’s

systems

R&I

DB

Spread

sheets

FIN

Spread

Sheets

Paper

files

INTEUM

Strath

Prints

HR

SRS

Many

Local

Systems

Local

Systems

VLEs

Locally

Held

Web

Sites

Systems and Activity

• R&I Database– Processing of Grants

• Advanced Forming Research Centre– Large Capital Project with industry sponsorship

• Researchers Portal– Supporting academic staff

• Lessons from these projects

Grant or Contract Processes

Pre-Award

• Solicit and promote

opportunities

• Cost and Price

• Develop proposal

• Manage / approve

electronic submissions

• Track applications , file

and record on DB

Post Award

• Develop and negotiate

contract

– Negotiate terms

• Re-Cost / Spec

depending on Price

achieved

• Provide finance with

budget approval

• Liaise with funder

throughout grant

R&I Database Lessons• External procurement necessary as IT services could not deliver in

timeframe .. Other priorities

• IT Services then reluctant to maintain or support externally procured system– Had to run a dedicated server in department with no IT support

• It eventually failed -> Chaos

• Had to bribe IT services to take on support role

• 7 years later still no generally available reporting function

• Last to get Business Objects Universe

• Can’t rely on external suppliers– On costs / upgrades expensive .. Over a barrel when it comes to disputes

• Must be seen as part of the University’s core mission– Can’t do in isolation

– Must integrate with other corporate systems

– Need high level support• RIMS project : Chaired by Principal and VD Research and KE

Advanced Forming Research Centre

£25 Million Project

AFRC Activities

• Risk management

– Financial planning / modelling

– University Court Approval

– State Aid Considerations

– University Charter – Legal Opinion

– Reputation

– Academic Engagement

– Contract Negotiation• Development Agency

• Tier 1 Partners

• Tier 2 Partners

• Opportunity management– Develop Value Proposition

– Develop Intellectual Property Position

– Sell academic capability• Develop capacity

– Identify Research Agenda

– Develop / Negotiate Pilot Projects

– Build internal team• Finance, Estates, HR, Senior

Officers

– Support Project Executive Team

• Companies, Economic Development, Consultants, Lawyers

Three Year Time Frame

AFRC Lessons • No centrally provided Groupware solution

• Sharepoint “pilot” by learning services couldn’t authenticate external users– Concerns about licence for commercial use

• Cost implication – no budget before a project

• Lead department used their own server in the end– As the project evolves data management / commercial confidentiality needs

careful consideration

• Will split down into many sub-projects with different access rights

• Commercial companies need reassurance about security and confidentiality– Can this be trusted to departments ?

• Freedom of information requests may be an issue

• Not everything should/can be committed to electronic documentation

• Different participants at different phases of the project– Differing information requirements

Research Knowledge Management

(Research Enhancement Group Project)

Background

• Recognition that we are not maximising the embedded knowledge within SU and that our systems and practices are , in places, not fit for purpose

• A new research information systems based infrastructure (RIMS) is planned but is likely to take many years to be defined and implemented

• Need to demonstrate that we can organise and use our existing systems and social practice ( with some modifications) to better support research knowledge management.

https://moss.strath.ac.uk/research/resportal/

Researches Portal

• Research in Practice– Research Funding

– Ethics and Sponsorship Approval

– Good Research Practice

• Knowledge Exchange in Practice– Commercialising Research

– Economic and Social Impact

– Working with Businesses and Organisations

• Research Careers Enhancement– Developing your career

– Research Induction

• People and Collaboration– Themed subsites

• Linking Physical to digital

– Calendar of events

– Collaboration workspaces

• Capturing of tacit knowledge

• Wikis

• One Stop Shop

– Document Management of Policy Documents

• Integration with External Sources of Information

– RSS Funding Feeds

– Blogs

Portal

• Early decision to include BCE advice alongside Research Support and Career Development

• Engagement– Academic staff

– VD Research

– Senior Officers

– Departmental Staff

– Professional Services Staff• HR, Finance, R&I, Comms

• Research Leaders Programme– Academic engagement funded study

– Learning Services

• Data management paper had to be agreed by Research and Knowledge Transfer Strategy Committee– Sensitive information issues

Portal Lessons

• Corporate roll out of Sharepoint… not well planned– Out the Box solution .. But really needs to be customised

• Centrally supported but limited and overstretched developer resource– New product…. so learning on the job

– Other priorities

– We had to secure (part) funding for additional developer• Still not recruited

• Authentication based on Active Directory– Not all departments use it !

• Training– Content originators unfamiliar with product

• Need training resources to be developed – Promised but still not available

• Had to do basic on the job training ourselves

R&I Lessons - General• We have no dedicated IT resource

– Skills beyond Microsoft Office very limited

• IT Services ( until recently) didn’t see us as part of core Administrative services, therefore unsupported and reliant on goodwill

• Systems have grown piece meal with little integration or consistency

•– No off the shelf product that integrates costing tool, pre-award processing, post-award

management and financial management

• Historical reliance on Oracle systems and capability– Limited Microsoft developer resource

• IT Committee structure in University hampers progress– R&I office not represented

– Often don’t see the external picture ( ie REF )

• Corporate Communications not linked well with BCE objectives

• Data management becoming increasingly important– Research Excellence Framework

– Freedom of Information Requests

– Portfolio Management

– Consistent reporting across multiple systems impossible

What we need– Joined up Research Information Management System

• HR, Finance, R&I, Library ( Repository)

– Document Management System• Integration of email and electronic document management

– Event management software• Small and large

• Booking and payment system

• Collect permission to mail marketing materials

– CRM system• However, cultural issues are the real problem

– Who owns the relationship ?

– Frequently BCE don’t own the relationship !

– Possibly groupware for use with Strategic Partners• Free Wifi for corporate clients

– Better video conferencing

– Embedded developer resource and Funded Programme to train “BCE” staff in common collaboration tools