Sail - Swansea University

Swansea
means
business
Supporting the
Knowledge Economy
Examples of how Swansea University has accessed EU convergence
funding to support skills development and knowledge transfer activity
include:
• Steel Training Research and Innovation Partnership (STRIP): a
£7 million initiative that involves Cardiff, Bangor, and Glyndwr
Universities. STRIP will support the creation of a sustainable steel
industry in Wales.
• Software Alliance Wales (SAW): a £13 million initiative over five
years, involving four other Welsh HEIs. The aim is to support the
development of a vibrant software industry in Wales by setting up a
network for software developers in Wales.
• Advanced SusTainable ManUfacturing Technologies (ASTUTE): a £25
million initiative involving every HE Institution in Wales with an interest
in advanced manufacturing and associated technologies. The project
will support firms to invest in, utilise outcomes of R&D, and develop
new and improved products and processes.
LEAD Wales
The School of Business and Economics runs the LEAD Wales
programme, a five-year, £8 million training initiative designed
to equip owner-managers of small to medium-sized enterprises
with the skills necessary to take their businesses to the next level.
“
Many companies find they have gone as far as they can
with their product range or company structure. Part of the
LEAD programme encourages delegates to look for new
opportunities and find synergies with other businesses.
That’s tough to do when the weight of the business rests on
your shoulders. But with LEAD Wales, you’re working with
other entrepreneurs who can inspire you to think in new
directions.
”
Sam Munn, Managing Director, Samatrix Ltd
LEAD Wales is funded by the Welsh Government and the
European Social Fund, and is available in Wales’ Convergence
Areas (formerly EU Objective One regions).
Welsh Centre for
Printing and Coating
While a 2011 Royal Mail survey found that Swansea is the second best location in the
UK for business growth, in the form of start-ups, relocations or developing additional
sites, the Cities Outlook 2011 report published by the Centre for Cities included
Swansea as one of “five vulnerable cities which may not feel the full benefit of national
economic recovery for some time”, due to its reliance on public sector employment and
susceptibility to government spending cuts.
There is clearly an urgent need for Swansea to
provide employment opportunities outside the
public sector. In large part, this can be achieved
through the development of high-tech and
high-value added, skills-based jobs alongside
the creation of a vibrant, knowledge-based local
economy. As a research intensive university,
Swansea University is engaging with this process
to promote economic development, stimulate
investment, and create jobs.
In recent years the University has made
exceptional progress in supporting the
Knowledge Economy by:
• providing skilled graduates
• undertaking collaborative research with
industry
• supporting companies and businesses
through consultancy and skills development
programmes
• teaching entrepreneurship and innovation skills
• generating spin-out companies to exploit the
University’s intellectual property
• encouraging graduates to create start-up
companies
• facilitating graduate placements.
One of the principal mechanisms Swansea
uses to help the business community is
through “technology transfer”, where practical
commercial applications are developed from the
University’s research. For instance, the Institute
of Life Science (ILS), a £50 million partnership
between the University, IBM and the Welsh
Government, carries out world-leading
research into radical ways of treating
diseases such as cancer and diabetes,
and delivering health care.
The development of bioinformatics, visualisation
and virtual reality techniques gives the Institute
potential to create economic wealth through
research, intellectual property licensing, spin-out
companies and inward investment. ILS is also
home to the Boots Centre for Innovation, which
helps researchers and entrepreneurs from around
the world to develop new products for Boots
Alliance plc in areas including pain relief,
skin treatments and healthy ageing.
In its first two years alone, ILS generated
more than 100 new patents or trademarks,
110 collaborative research projects, and
supported the creation of 105 new companies.
The second phase of the project, ILS2, is
currently under construction. The £30 million,
state-of-the-art research centre will play a major
role in developing new products and services
for the health-care industry, and will triple the
space available to grow related businesses.
The University’s international reputation for
world-class engineering research has yielded
a major collaboration with Rolls-Royce plc
and the Engineering and Physical Science
Research Council. The £50 million Strategic
Partnership in Structural Metallic Systems
for Advanced Gas Turbine Applications
programme harnesses academic expertise
via a three-way collaboration between
the universities of Swansea, Cambridge
and Birmingham. Over the next ten years,
researchers at Swansea’s Rolls-Royce
University Training Centre (UTC) will undertake
fundamental materials research to improve the
efficiency and environmental sustainability of
gas turbine engines, and will help train the next
generation of world-class materials scientists
and metallurgical engineers.
The UTC will be based at the University’s
proposed Science and Innovation Campus. The
70-acre site will facilitate a step change in the
University’s interaction with industry by providing
an intensive, open-innovation environment
that accommodates industrial R&D, academic
research, and postgraduate students. The
campus will also be designed to facilitate the
growth of high-technology clusters in the region
by including consultancy, access to business
support, and incubator facilities.
The No City Left Behind report published by
The Work Foundation in July 2010 notes that:
“Growth over the next ten years will be driven
by knowledge-based industries and jobs will
increasingly demand high level skills. This means
universities and the further education sector will
play a crucial role in the recovery.”
In applying its research expertise to the issues
and challenges that face industry on a daily
basis, Swansea University is making a direct
impact on the Knowledge Economy and is
contributing significantly to the development of
new skills and theories that enable innovative
ideas to become a commercial reality. In
turn, the University’s research is leading to job
creation, and is making a real difference to the
health, well-being, and prosperity of countless
people in Wales and beyond.
The Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC), based in
the College of Engineering, gives print companies access to the
very latest research, technology and training with the aim of
helping them to improve their competitiveness.
“
WCPC resources go above and beyond what we can
achieve ourselves. Their reports provide a lot of detail but with
clear conclusions to allow confident practical implementation.
Their information is valid to assist management decision
making understandable for workers and has assisted in the
change of attitudes and habits for the better.
”
Norman Faulkner, Technical and Systems Manager,
Cambrian Printers
Dragon Innovation
Partnership
A collaboration between Swansea University, Swansea
Metropolitan University and Trinity University College
Carmarthen, the Dragon Innovation Partnership allows
businesses in West Wales access to experts who can
support their development and training via tailor-made
support packages. The initiative recently published a
pocket guide to business funding and support.
“
Without the pocket guide we wouldn’t have known about
the assistance available to us. We are now working with a
fantastic business mentor who has helped us put together our
business plan for the first three years. And we’re excited to
put the grant towards computer software and equipment for
the business to make sure that we can offer a complete civil
engineering service from conception to completion.
”
Kate Lane, co-owner, Saplane Civil Engineering Ltd
Sail – 04
Sail – 05