Re:action Winter 2021

This edition of Re:action showcases a selection of our KE activities. We have badged them, as follows, to help identify where they fit into the world of KE and Enterprise:

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE AND ENTERPRISE AT SOUTHAMPTON

Knowledge Exchange (KE) and Enterprise are closely intertwined and, at the University of Southampton, go hand in hand.

KE is the process through which knowledge and ideas move between academia and users of our research and knowledge. The KE activities we undertake provide a crucial role in achieving our University’s strategic purpose to change the world for the better and deliver impact.

Diana Galpin, Director of Enterprise and KE at the University, said: “We undertake many activities to achieve KE – some with a clear commercial focus and an expectation to earn money, which is the ‘enterprise’ element; some that are undertaken more altruistically for societal and public good; and some that are designed to create a vibrant ecosystem where creativity, inventiveness and innovation can thrive. Often projects straddle more than one of these aims.

“We also achieve considerable KE through collaborative and contract research with non-academic partners, through secondments and placements. At any one time, the University is working with over 1,000 external organisations and over 40 per cent of our research projects involve one or more business partners.”

Earlier in 2021, the University’s achievements in entrepreneurial activities were recognised in the first Knowledge Exchange Framework. The University was placed in the top 10 per cent of all universities assessed for ‘Intellectual Property and commercialisation’, ‘Public and community engagement’ and ‘Working with the public and third sector’, and in the top 20 per cent for ‘Research partnerships’ and ‘Working with business’.

OUR ENTERPRISE UNITS: THE POWERHOUSES OF OUR ENTERPRISE ACTIVITIES

The breadth of the University’s enterprise offering is reflected in the variety of enterprise units, spanning areas of expertise such as computer science, health, environmental data management, materials engineering and marine technology.

Our enterprise units generate a combined income of about £35 million every year. They deliver services to SMEs, large corporates and to Governmental departments, and they enable the University to bring in vital funding to support our specialist research facilities.

We have the following enterprise units:

Academic Centre for International Students: The hub for language and cultural support for international students, delivering courses and pre-sessional programmes.

Coastal and Offshore Archaeological Research Services (COARS): Providing archaeological services to industry where maritime archaeological mitigation and preconstruction research is required, such as windfarm development or offshore aggregate extraction.

The Centre for Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO) Contracting: Palaeolithic and Quaternary geological specialists provide expertise to industry and planning authorities to assist in the protection of the remains and evidence of our earliest ancestors.

GeoData: Specialists in research, communication and management for a sustainable environment and society. GeoData has had a strong focus on integrated river catchment management and coastal zone management, but its remit extends across the whole field of environment, social and economic evaluation and development.

GAU-Radioanalytical Laboratories: Expertise in providing radioanalytical services, consultancy and research support for the government, industrial (nuclear and environmental) and academic sectors.

ISVR Consulting: Professional consultancy and applied research in noise, vibration, acoustics and dynamics, with facilities including two reverberation chambers, a large anechoic chamber, a combustion noise rig and a range of electrodynamic shakers.

1 The Wolfston Unit for Marine Technology and Industrial Aerodynamics The Wolfston Unit for Marine Technology and Industrial Aerodynamics: Expertise in ship model testing, yacht performance and ship design software, with facilities including a 138-metre long towing tank.

Auditory Implant Service: The service, commissioned by NHS England Specialist Services for Cochlear Implants and Bone Anchored Hearing Implants and Devices, was established in 1990 to help severely to profoundly deaf adults and children. Surgeons at the centre have implanted more than 2,000 auditory implant devices.

nC2: Expertise in material science, mechanical engineering and tribology, providing specialist advice to clients when choosing coatings, polymers and metal alloys for harsh environments.

ECS Partners Limited: The professional consultancy company of Electronics and Computer Science, supporting clients to develop improvements in their business operations.

Wessex Institute: Provides expert management and provision of high-quality, practice-based research to support decisionmakers in health and healthcare. The institute is home to a number of nationally important, internationally-recognised centres, such as NETSCC, the Southampton Health Technology Assessment Centre, and Health and Care Research Wales funding schemes.

Clinical Informatics Research Unit: Providing clinical research solutions and services around the world, advancing data excellence, and improving research methods. EDGE, one of the unit’s leading products, is a cloud-based clinical research portfolio management system. It has more than six million patients listed, 80 per cent of the NHS uses EDGE in the UK, it is used in 12 countries, with more than 135,000 active users.

The Southampton Clinical Trials Unit: The Unit’s experts in the design, conduct and analysis of multicentre interventional clinical trials work in partnership with investigators to deliver high-quality trials that directly influence routine clinical practice.

We also have other focused enterprise offerings, for example:

µ-VIS X-Ray Imaging Centre: A highresolution X-ray tomographic imaging centre, offering advanced 3D imaging for the biomedical, engineering, environmental and archaeological sciences.

Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory: A centre for research into dielectric materials, insulation systems and related phenomena, with state-of-the-art facilities that are also used for commercial testing.

ALLOWING INNOVATIVE NEW COMPANIES TO THRIVE

A comprehensive support system – from programmes and training to IP and contract management – sits behind our strong track record in commercialising our research through spin-outs and start-ups.

Since 2000, the University and its academic teams have formed 77 new ventures. More than 40 of these are formal University spinouts taking a licence to intellectual property, and the University has taken an equity position in 35. In 2021, our spin-outs raised more than £150 million in external investment.

The University of Southampton Science Park is one of the biggest science parks and innovation centres in the UK, currently home to more than 100 businesses. The park is also home to the Catalyst programme, which fasttracks innovation-led businesses via six months of mentoring and workshops with worldclass business mentors. The programme has incubated 57 start-ups, 80 per cent of which are still trading. To date, Catalyst companies have raised £5 million in grants and £15 million in early stage investment.

The University is also a founding partner of the SETsquared Partnership, which provides a comprehensive range of programmes to help take businesses to the next level. It is one of the delivery partners for Innovate’s ICURe programme, which is designed to move innovation out of universities and into the marketplace. SETsquared also delivers the Scale-Up Programme, which provides tailored support for innovative businesses around the challenges of scaling up.

And Future Worlds, our on-campus start-up accelerator, has supported more than 150 projects and launched more than 50 student and staff start-ups to date. Future Worlds’ Dragons’ Den event is an annual highlight, inviting innovative student start-ups to pitch live on stage to secure investment from millionaire investors.

Student enterprise Enactus Southampton is a student-run social enterprise society seeking to create innovative projects to help tackle social needs. Enactus Southampton is currently running three local projects, including providing creative arts-based sessions for isolated elderly residents, and one international project to develop a large-scale aquaponics system in India that they plan to also replicate in the UK.

There is also the Social Impact Lab, a community for students to learn skills and knowledge through experience to lead sustainable social change. The lab runs a Speaker Series, a Social Enterprise Module, and local and international internships.

The Student Enterprise team supports students in developing enterprising and entrepreneurial skills. Opportunities include events, competitions, workshops, mentoring and generous funding opportunities, such as:

• The Big Ideas funding competition to encourage innovation solutions to known problems across the student community, with Seed Funding of up to £2,500 and Accelerate Funding of up to £6,000 • A foundership grant fund and 12-week support programme over the summer period • One-to-one coaching and guidance • Freelance bootcamps, the Student Startup Challenge weekend, and Business Basics workshops

Two new opportunities launching in Semester Two are the Student Enterprise Active Rewards Programme, a new online programme of activities and resources to kick-start the development of business or social enterprise ideas, and the Small Business Speed Launch, a three-day event hosted at Network Eagle Labs in Southampton to give students practical skills to launch over one weekend. This event will cover everything from logo design and website creation to accounts, invoicing, and business banking.

OUR KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE AND ENTERPRISE STRATEGIC PLAN

The new University Strategy is due to be published in early 2022. Sitting alongside the Strategy will be the University’s Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise (KEE) Strategic Plan for 2022 to 2027.

The draft KEE Strategic Plan, which is awaiting final approvals, sets out our vision: “That the University of Southampton delivers the greatest possible benefit to the economy, society and the environment through its KEE activities.”

Achieving global impact through being bold and embracing risk and failure in order to learn and innovate is central to the draft strategic plan.

Strategic goals set out in the plan include streamlining our processes, systems and customer journey; supporting staff and students to gain relevant skills to innovate; growing our income from KEE; and ensuring all KEE activities contribute to the University’s purpose – ‘to change the world for the better’ – in a sustainable way.