University Support for Industry Collaboration

Peter Lancaster

Recap

• KTN

– Knowledge Transfer Network

• KTP

– Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

• KTA

– Knowledge Transfer Account

KTN

• Fostering global economic

performance and specifically

economic competition in the

UK.

• Increasing the effectiveness of

public services and policy.

• Enhancing quality of life,

health and creative output.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

What is a KTP?

• Knowledge Transfer Partnerships aim to help businesses

improve their competitiveness and productivity through

the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that

reside within the UK Knowledge Base

• KTP is funded by the Technology Strategy Board along

with the other government funding organisations

Associate

Academic Company

KTPKTP

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

KTP routes:

1. Classic KTP

Longer term: 1-3 years, more strategic issues

2. Shorter KTP

Shorter term: 10-40 weeks, more tactical issues

The suitability of the route depends on the needs of the

organisation and the desired outcomes

Associate

Academic CompanyKTPKTP

Industrial CASE Awards

• Funding for PhD studentships where businesses take the

lead in arranging projects with an academic partner of their

choice.

• Company decides the research project

• £7K/year from the company

• £22K/year from EPSRC/RDA etc.

• Engineering Doctorate Programme

• Alternative to traditional PhDs

• A four-year programme combines PhD-level research

projects with taught courses

• Students spend about 75% of their time working with a

company

• Company contribution - £12 K/year

IDC - Sustainability for Engineering

and Energy Systems

• Harnessing Large and Diverse Sources of Data – closes 21/10/10

• Metadata: increasing the value of digital content – fast-track and

mainstream competitions, briefing event on Thurs

• Technology-Inspired Collaborative Research and

Development – opens 12/10/10

– Advanced Materials

– Biosciences

– Electronics, Photonics and Electrical Systems

– High Value Manufacturing

– Information and Communications Technology

– Nanotechnology

Technology Strategy Board

Collaborative funding

EPSRC : The concept of Impact

• Fostering global

economic performance

and specifically

economic competition in

the UK.

• Increasing the

effectiveness of public

services and policy.

• Enhancing quality of life,

health and creative

output.

EPSRC Follow on Fund

• Turn research outputs into a commercial proposition.

• Up to 12 months support for technical and business

development activities

• Demonstrate commercial feasibility and scientific/technical

merit

• Last call closed 6 August 2010

• Next call: Closing date February 2011

Knowledge Transfer Account

(KTA)

Exploiting Excellence through Innovation

What does KTA do?

1. Extending the Technology Readiness Level

2. Making proven concepts ready for investments

3. Solving specific industrial challenges

How?

• Increasing Engagement

• Accelerating Exploitation

• Demonstrating Impact

• Communications & Signal Processing

• Nanotechnology & Photonics

• Next Generation Materials & Characterisation

Increasing Engagement

• Identify markets in which University research can be applied

• Identify and engage with suitable companies and organisations

• Facilitate knowledge exchange

• Interface between business needs and the knowledge base

• Build processes to enable closer engagement and knowledge

exchange

Accelerating Exploitation

• We have funds

– But

• Principle of co-funding

– 50% contribution from large organisations

– 25% contribution from SMEs

• What for?

– Proof-of-Concepts/prototyping

– Placements

– Training/CPD development

– Targeted, specific market research

– Demonstrators – larger, multi-partner projects

– Horizon scanning workshops.

• Filling in the TRL gap—levels 3-5

Technology Readiness Levels

System

operational

in live

environment

System

tested

Prototype

in live

test

Prototype

demonstrated

Live trialsLab trialsProof of

concept

Application

developed

Basic idea

Business, VC etc.TSBResearch Councils

987654321TRL

Main

Funder KTA

Demonstrating Impact

• Show what we can do

• Create a sustainable and self-perpetuating environment

� For business and the University

Funded Projects

• Integration of biologically inspired algorithms for real-time image analysis into commercial image-processing systems to enable field trials. With a local signal processing SME

• Demonstrator hardware for improved induction-loop hearing aid system, solving the “cocktail-party problem” in meeting rooms and conferences. With RNID

• Development of a technology demonstrator for computer game animation engine. Space technology spin-off. Joint funding with other agencies.

• Application of novel analysis techniques to greenhouse gas modelling in the agricultural sector.

• Trials at a major hospital of a new approach to screening retinal images for signs of diabetes

• Part-funding a placement of a researcher at a film production house to transfer knowledge on video capture to the company and receive knowledge of commercial methods and priorities.

• Development of investment potential profiling system, based on web-mining technology. With UKTI.

Pending Projects

• Adaptation of concept proved in an open-source software package, for use with Microsoft Office

• Development and commercial testing of algorithms for improving tracking of facial features

• Development of a Future Networks Demonstrator to enable trialling of next-generation content delivery and internet services. Joint funding with other agencies.

• Testing of an interactive, web-based learning system with local organisations

• Market research to focus the potential adaptation of space robotics technologies to other market areas

Conclusion

• KTA is industry friendly

• It can fund significant proportion of the development

cost

• Reduces the risk to the company

• It adopts both technology push and market pull

approaches

Knowledge Transfer Account (KTA)

Communications & Signal Processing

Platform

Research Strengths of the Platform

Area

• Centre for Communication Systems Research – CCSR

• The Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing – CVSSP

• Computing

• Surrey Space Centre

• Centre for Environmental Strategy

• Digital World Research Centre

Others

Key Markets for our research

Distribution of EPSRC projects by Business Sector

4%

31%

41%

0%

4%

6%

4%8% 2%

Aerospace, defence and marine Creative industries

Electronics, Communications and IT Energy

Food & Drink Infrastructure and Environment

Manufacturing Medicines and Healthcare

Transport Systems and Vehicles

Communications & Signal Processing

Research-Application mapping:

• Creative Industries:

– Video processing with applications in television, film production, animation and games production

– Optimisation of the transmission of digital content using various media and device types

– Audio quality and perception

• High Value Services:

– Complex systems, particularly relating to the interactions between computer systems, users and their environment

– Secure communications systems

– Image and video security and analysis

• Healthcare:

– Signal and image processing for automated screening applications, and for assisted living applications

– Communication systems as an enabler for applications such as tele-health

Communications & Signal Processing

Research-Application mapping:

• Environmental Sustainability:

– Use of communications and systems analysis to enable energy & resource efficient systems

– Novel methods for carbon footprint measurement.

– Earth observation analysis

• Digital:

– Semantic web research

– Pervasive sensor networks and the “Internet of Things”

– Cognitive communications systems

– Next generation networks and communications

– Human factors in IT systems (trust, security, usability etc.)

– Sociological effects of digital media, content and disseminationsystems

Centre for Communications Systems

Research – CCSRProf. Rahim Tafazolli, Director

Mobile/wireless, fixed networks and satellite systems

• Advanced air-interfaces

• Flexible and self organising networks – ad-hoc, Femtocells

• Cognitive Radio and Dynamic Spectrum Allocation

• Energy and environmental systems design

• Future Generation Internet Studies

• Mobile antennas

• Propagation measurements and modelling – indoor/outdoor and

satellite

• End-to-end security systems

• Sensor networks from protocols to services

• Web based service provision and service platforms

• Advanced satellite communications/networking and payload

technologies

Focus Multidimensional signal (speech, audio, images, volumetric data,

video) processing, interpretation and understanding)

Applications Biometrics, Visual Media – broadcast, film, gaming, Video

Archive Retrieval and Restoration, Security and Surveillance, Audio

Perception, Robotics & Cognitive Vision, Medical Imaging

� Medical

Imaging

� 3D Visual Media

� Biometrics

� Surveillance

� Audio

perception

Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal

Processing – CVSSP Prof. J Kittler, Director

ComputingProf. Paul Krause, Prof. of Software Engineering

Formal Methods and Security

• high-integrity systems development

• formal analysis of security protocols

• multimedia security

Digital Ecosystems

• mass-market interactive computing

• P2P networks for open e-business communities

• automated reasoning about software systems

• complex reactive systems

Nature Inspired Computing and Engineering

• image processing and mining

• information retrieval and knowledge extraction

• modelling and analysis of genetic and metabolic networks for drug design and disease analysis

• aerodynamic structure design

• multi-criterion optimization and decision-making

Surrey Space Centre – SSCDr Craig Underwood, Director

Signal Processing & Communications:

– GNSS Reflectometry; Galileo Signal Processing

– Control algorithms & techniques

– Smart Antennas; High Efficiency RF

– Data Encryption & Compression

– Wireless Sensor Networks

– Machine Vision for Navigation

– Laser & RF Inter-Satellite Links

– Wireless On-Board Data Bus

Centre for Environmental Strategy

CES - Professor Matthew Leach, Director

Approaches/themes:-

• sustainable systems: tools for analysis

eg LCA, carbon footprinting, agent-based models, multi-criteria

methods

• social research on sustainability

values, attitudes, behaviours. Linked to departments of Psychology,

Sociology, Economics

• policy/governance and corporate strategy for sustainability

risk, roles of innovation, CSR, communication, regulation

Applied (largely) to:-

• systems analysis for lower carbon processes & products

• low carbon energy systems

• water resources and policy

• lifestyles and environment

Digital World Research Centre

• multi-disciplinary team:

including sociology, anthropology, psychology, interaction design/HCI,

media design, computer science and communications

• focusing on:

user-centred innovation in digital technology for the consumer market

Prof. David Frohlich, Director

IT use in older

people

audio-visual story

sharing in an Indian

village community

citizen journalism as

a route to digital

inclusion

Contact

Peter Lancaster

peter.lancaster@npl.co.uk

07738 895464

Communications & Signal Processing

University of Surrey Knowledge Transfer Account

www.surrey.ac.uk/kta

University of Surrey

Research & Enterprise Support

www.surrey.ac.uk/res

Knowledge Transfer Networks

http://ktn.innovateuk.org/