Non-KTP Collaborations: WorldCast Live

Posted on by

In the Knowledge Transfer Centre, in addition to Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, a government-funded initiative we are more commonly associated with, we also pride ourselves on non-KTP collaborations, helping bring different people and ideas together for a positive impact.

We work across multiple themes, collaborating with various companies and individuals both within and outside of the University of Reading, continuing to enforce our goal of knowledge exchange. This can be anything from putting someone in touch with the right people, right the way up to full support in the development of a product or service.

One such non-KTP partnership is one we have established with US-based media streaming company, WorldCast Live.

(Left to right: Simon Cutler: Senior Business Relationship Manager at the KTC, Peter Lewis: CEO of WorldCast Live, Jacqueline Benton: Co-Founder/Director of Operations and Planning at WorldCast Live, Ed Cooper: Director at Vital Six, Susan Elliott: Managing Director at Vital Six) 

 

We caught up with Peter Lewis and Jacqueline Benton from WorldCast Live to discuss how working with the KTC and with Reading-based business incubation centre, Innovation Catalyst (https://innovationcatalyst.spaces.nexudus.com/en), has helped them grow their business and build their network.

 

How did you first get in contact with the University of Reading?

I used a search engine to try and found some local help for the business and the University of Reading was one of the first listings. It was both local and had a great reputation, so I got in touch.

 

You’ve worked closely with the KTC in the early stages of contact, can you walk us through the process?

My initial contact resulted in a reply from the KTC almost immediately, soon followed by a meeting in the centre itself. From there, I was given the exact support and guidance I needed for the project to begin developing. They walked me through the entire process from opening a company, identifying and sourcing the support I need, and also pointed me in the direction of Innovation Catalyst.

 

Once you engaged with Innovation Catalyst, how have you benefited from that community, as well as being part of the Barclays Flight Programme?

It has been a fantastic benefit; we were at a point where we were almost fumbling around trying to find out what we needed to do to get a start-up company off the ground, but they were able to guide us and provide invaluable advice to help us move forward. They also connected me with other businesses and Barclays Eagle Lab, which has been so helpful for us not only in advising what we need to do next, but also the pitfalls to avoid. It’s been a really fantastic experience.

 

Being based in New York, what are your global plans for the company moving forward?

What we’ve learned is that working with brands both in the UK and the US exposes you to different ways of working, allowing us to finetune our software, permitting us to be more agile in our approach, and also it means that we can expand faster because we understand the differences in the markets. It has been a great learning experience from beginning to end, and I have journeyed here several times now, learning new things that I am able to pass on to our IT staff which means we can expand into new areas that we wouldn’t have known or thought about should we have not been part of a collaboration.

 

Where does the Academic expertise come in to help with the service you provide as a business?

Because we’re a start-up business, we want to make sure we’re approaching our business plan the right way. We want to ensure we understand the market, we understand the risks, and we understand the technology possibilities and limitations. It also helps us gain an understanding of where does our product fit in the market, how do we compare with competitors, and what do we need to do to grow the business. We have had tremendous support from the university with navigating our way to the next steps.

 

In terms of the relationships you’ve made as a result of working with Innovation Catalyst, are you likely to continue the relationships with the people and businesses you’ve met over the past few months?

Yes it will, and we’ve even made some new business relationships today where we’ve managed to agree other collaborations, so there is a huge benefit to each of these workshops not just with the content and the presentations, but the other attendees.

 

 

You can watch the video of this meeting right here.

If you or your business could benefit from a collaboration with the Knowledge Transfer Centre, contact us today to discuss the many opportunities available to you in more detail.

 

New Partnership with Lloyds Banking Group

Posted on by

At the Knowledge Transfer Centre, our goal is to provide an easy route into the University for anyone interested in working with us and accessing our research. We provide high-levels of service and support to enable partners to develop collaborations via a range of mechanisms and funding opportunities, and focus on helping companies grow and increase their competitiveness. With this goal in mind, it is our privilege to announce our latest partnership with Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyds Banking Group offer a suite of financial services to customers and businesses in the UK and currently provide home insurance to nearly 3 million customers.

This Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) provides an exciting opportunity to develop tools and models which increase the understanding of insurance risk associated with extreme windstorm and flood events within Lloyds Banking Group’s general insurance division. The project involves Academics from the departments of meteorology and geography and environmental sciences who will work closely with the Associate for the duration of the project.

 

This partnership received financial support from the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) programme . KTP aims to help businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK knowledge base. This successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership project, funded by UK Research and Innovation through Innovate UK, is part of the government’s Industrial Strategy.

If your business has a product or service that could benefit from a KTP, contact us today to discuss the opportunities available to you in more detail.

just IMAGINE if…

Posted on by

At the Knowledge Transfer Centre, we firmly believe that people hold the key to resolving some of the world’s most pressing issues with their ideas, a belief communally shared by the entirety of the University of Reading.

We have collaborated with Ella’s Kitchen founder Paul Lindley on various successful projects over the years,  helping get Paul’s ideas for healthier baby food off the ground and building a lasting relationship in the process, but now a brand new and exciting partnership has begun; just IMAGINE if…

just IMAGINE if… has one mission: to identify and help develop extraordinary ideas. Companies, partnerships, not-for-profit organisations or individuals with an extraordinary idea that could help alleviate one of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals but need research input to help it grow can apply.

As the winner of this competition you will be given a unique opportunity to access bespoke research specifically designed to significantly move your idea forward. We will give you access to the right people, the right research, the right facilities, and up to £75,000 to spend on bringing your idea to life.

This INCREDIBLE competition closes Dec 31st, and all you need to do to apply is outline your idea in no more than 1000 words along with a short pitch. That’s it; all that’s standing between you and winning the opportunity to create a positive global impact is a thousand words and a one minute pitch. Seems to go to be true, right? Wrong…!

Find out more and apply right here. 

How a partnership with the KTC helped Ella’s Kitchen, and ‘Thinking Like a Toddler’ with founder Paul Lindley

Posted on by

Award winning British entrepreneur, social campaigner, best-selling author and University of Reading honorary Paul Lindley visited Henley Business School on Whiteknights campus in October earlier this year to provide an excellent lecture on ‘The Huge Power of Thinking Like a Toddler’, echoing his fantastic book he released back in 2017.

Paul spent the hour-long lecture discussing how he believes unlocking our personal potential is not achieved by learning new skills, but by re-discovering old ones – those we all had when we were toddlers. Paul argues that in ‘growing down’ we can be more imaginative, free thinking, playful and self-confident, allowing us to look at our personal, corporate and social challenges in a different, more impactful way.

Paul founded Ella’s Kitchen in 2006 with a mission to improve children’s lives through developing healthy relationships with food. After collaborating with the Knowledge Transfer Centre at University of Reading on three successful Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, and now working on another project, Ella’s Kitchen has become the UK’s largest baby food brand and has sales of over $100M from across 40 countries. As part of the projects, together we have helped tackle the psychology and clinical language of the business, sourcing raw materials without compromising quality, and packaging; all helping the company grow into the incredible success it is today.

The relationship between Ella’s Kitchen and the Knowledge Transfer Centre at the University of Reading is a prime example of collaborations that work, and how the smallest idea can turn into a world-changing innovation. Both parties have benefited from this incredible partnership, and it has been a delight to watch the company continue to reach new heights in the market.

 

You can still watch Paul’s lecture here.

You can watch and/or read about the collaboration between Ella’s Kitchen at UoR here.

If you’d like to found out how we can help your business grow, click here.

Bullitt Group Student Design Challenge 2018

Posted on by

 

We are proud to be a department that not only supports businesses with their company growth, but also students with exciting competitions that help prepare them for their careers after University.

One of the annual projects we love helping with is the Bullitt Group Design Challenge, ran by both Bullitt themselves and University of Reading Professor of Computer & Human Interaction, Rachel McCrindle.

 

The challenge is a two-day competition partly at University of Reading and partly at Bullitt Group’s stunning offices in Reading centre, during which the teams have to create, illustrate, and then pitch their ideas on identifying problems with Cat phones and offering a solution. The students get the opportunity to put together a business proposal along with their marketing and financing strategies, and present their innovations to senior members of Bullitt Group’s management team.

 

Benefit for the students, and for Bullitt:

Encouraging the students to work as team, collate thorough research, and compress their work into a 3-minute presentation to the senior members of Bullitt Group staff in a short time frame helps the students develop a wide variety of skills, and is a fantastic addition to their CVs. It also helps the students with their confidence, teamwork and presentation skills.

Students finding problems and offering different ways in which a solution can be met also allows Bullitt Group to look at own their innovation challenges from a different angle.

 

The challenge is a great example of how Bullitt work closely with local communities, how Rachel McCrindle and the University of Reading work with local businesses, and how the Knowledge Transfer Centre continues its goal to offer support and guidance to companies and students alike.

 

This year’s winning team:

This year’s winners were 1st Year Biomedical Engineering student team, U-matter, for designing an innovative tech solution.

Well done to all involved!

 

Want to know about Bullitt Group? You can check out their website right here.

Collaboration Benefits for Academics: In conversation with Prof. Rachel McCrindle

Posted on by

How can Academics benefit from getting involved in KTC projects?

We caught up with Professor of Computer & Human Interaction Rachel McCrindle to talk awards, awards, research, promotions , and the importance of collaboration.

 

What are the key benefits of working with the KTC in enabling collaboration with partners?

There are many benefits of working with the KTC in enabling collaboration with partners, right the way through from the initiation of contacts and helping to prepare proposals, to helping manage projects and promote and market them once they are underway.

What’s your motivation behind working with external partners?

It’s really important these days to work with external partners. Many projects are multi-disciplinary and in doing those multi-disciplinary projects including multiple stakeholders it brings in various levels and areas of expertise in order to solve key strategic issues.

Has the KTC enabled you to work with companies that you might not otherwise have found / been interested in?

The knowledge Transfer Centre has been incredibly important in terms of delivering external partnerships, so very often external organisations have gone to the KTC with a problem that needs solving. The expertise they possess means they can find the right Academic, whether that be me or whoever, so that we can work on a solution to that issue and progress with a project.

What impacts and benefits have arisen / will arise as a result of the collaboration?

The benefits arising from collaborations with external partners are many; partly it’s about a two-way transfer of knowledge, it’s about working on key strategic problems with a real-world impact, and it’s about translating research into the real world.

A concern for Academics has previously been raised in that they are not sure if they can still publish when part of KTP. Could you please share your experiences on this?

It has been raised at times that it’s difficult to publish; it is possible to do, but it is a slightly different process. For instance, a lot of the material will be commercially confidential and therefore can’t be shared, but by working with the external organisation and discussing this with industry it is still possible to publish in partnership with the company and make sure the work that’s published is ok to be released. So, in answer to your question, it can be slightly more difficult, but it is possible, and you will be offered the right support to know how to go about getting your research out there.

How do you go about prioritising your workload when part of a project?

Prioritisation of workload is always going to be a challenge for Academics within a university; there are many different pools between research and teaching enterprises and projects both internal and external. I think the key is being organised and carefully managing your time to ensure you’re keeping on top of your workload model, which is something that comes with experience. There is a strong element of scheduling and projection to see what’s coming up and what the key projects will be to ensure that you diarise them accordingly and attempt to conduct them in an efficient, sensible order. Also trying to schedule your time to have a day where you’re free of teaching can really be beneficial when taking part in a project, as you then have a day free to visit the company and spend some time with them. Communication is a key factor with the company to make sure everyone is on the same page, and that is just as important internally as it is externally.

Have the collaborations you’ve been involved in influenced your research at all? Have they opened up new areas of research interest?

Working with the Knowledge Transfer Centre has been incredibly important in terms of expanding my research. My key research areas have perhaps not changed too much, but the domains in which I have applied that research has expanded enormously. I have worked with education companies, broadcasting companies, manufacturing companies, health companies: a huge number of organisations across the whole spectrum who have been both incredibly interesting and state of the art. It’s hugely rewarding to see the work that we’ve been doing within the University being applied in the ‘real world’.

What are the key challenges to be mindful of when working with companies? How did you overcome them?

With any of the challenges we face when part of a collaboration it’s important to remember that everyone has different priorities, different pressures, and occasionally different languages in terms of Academia vs. industry. The key thing is to be very mindful on both sides that there are often competing priorities for people’s time, and that those priorities are completely subject to change quite rapidly, so there needs to be a degree of flexibility and understanding. I think most importantly the key thing is to establish a strong team ethic and determine how the team can best work together. I’ve been involved with many projects now and every project and every team are slightly different, but at the centre of it all communication is the key, so providing a high standard of communication and trust with each partner should help overcome any challenges. It’s also important to remember to have fun; the biggest challenge is the project itself and trying to find a solution to a problem, so you have to step back sometimes and enjoy the work you’re doing and the impact it’s ultimately going to have.

Have the projects you’ve been involved with helped you develop any specific teaching materials, or realise any teaching and learning benefits?

Working with industry and external organisations has been incredibly useful for developing additional teaching material and enhancing the student experience. There are many ways in which our collaborators have helped us with this, including enabling us to develop case studies of the work that we’ve done, and reinforcing the research that we’re carrying out at the University of Reading to show how that it’s applicable in the real world, enriching lectures with examples. On occasion the projects that I’ve been involved with have resulted in the company physically coming in and giving a lecture, or running and sponsoring hackathons for the students, giving them some extra experience outside of the classroom. Working with the Knowledge Transfer Centre and taking part in projects has been a richly rewarding experience throughout for myself and my students.

How has the KTC been able to help you?

There have been many ways in which the KTC at the University of Reading has helped me individually. They have helped me find external collaborators, put proposals together, and they have helped me structure strong and effective teams. Many of the projects have been multi-disciplinary so the KTC have been able to bring other people from around the University to the team that I may not have known about or had access to. The KTC have also been able to help me with the whole recruitment process, they have helped me get the right Associate/staff on board, and they’ve also helped me with the accounting process so that I can concentrate on the project and the research side of things. Working with the KTC has also vastly increased my visibility within the University, and in  having done that has helped me with my promotion to Professor and also put me in a position to win the awards I been presented with.

And lastly, why should other Academics consider working with the Knowledge Transfer Centre?

I would strongly encourage other Academics to work with the Knowledge Transfer Centre. The opportunities that can be opened up there are amazing, and once the centre knows you and the areas you’re interested in, you are exposed to so many different avenues for your work to be applied, and again working with them helped with my promotion to Professor and the winning of various awards. The KTC staff are so incredibly supportive and showcase such a huge breadth of knowledge, offering great advice and direction, and nothing is ever too much trouble for them. We’re lucky at Reading to have such an excellent Knowledge Transfer Centre; it’s the best centre in the country.

Using maths and engineering to solve problems in food production, biotechnology, resource efficiency, water and sustainability.

Posted on by

**Article pasted in entirety from https://ktn-uk.co.uk**

 

Could your industry challenge be solved with help from researchers in mathematics, statistics, engineering, computer science?

Data science, artificial intelligence, mathematical and statistical modelling at multi scale are key strengths of the UK research base, and can be transformational when applied to industrial problems.

Over the last few years KTN has joined forces with academic partners to harness the expertise of the research community and address nominated industry challenges through Mathematical Study Groups with Industry. At the first study group in January 2017, held in partnership with the University of Bath’s Institute for Mathematical Innovation (IMI), 40 mathematicians, engineers and computer scientists spent three days working on challenges that included improving cocoa yields for the chocolate industry, helping farmers to optimise the value of pigs, and refining the design of a hydroponics system for crop production. The following year KTN teamed up with the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences to run another successful study group.

The third study group, taking the theme of Clean and Sustainable Growth, will be held in partnership with the University of Nottingham on 29th April – 1st May 2019. Once again we will bring mathematical science researchers from across the UK to work on a number of industry problems over three intensive workshop days with the aim on producing solutions to industry problems from areas as diverse as agriculture, food production, biotechnology, resource efficiency, water and sustainability.

 

Pose a challenge to the Clean and Sustainable Growth Study Group.

The call is currently open for companies large and small to indicate their interest in posing a problem to the Study Group. By bringing your challenge in front of the study group you will have a unique opportunity to access to highly qualified researchers, with the potential to get new solutions provided in a written report.

Willie Thomson, Director of Innovent Technology, said of a previous study group:

“Taking part in the study group was a really positive experience. I found it a fun, fascinating process and it certainly has opened my eyes to the opportunities offered by applied mathematics to agriculture.”

If you would like to present a problem to the study group please contact Matt Butchers and Markus Owen detailing your interest and they will then work with you to develop it into a potential problem statement for the Study Group.

 

This Study Group is fully funded by the University of Nottingham Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships programme “Modelling and Analytics for a Sustainable Society” with Support from  Innovate UK’s Knowledge Transfer Network; as such, there is no cost for industry to bring a problem to the Group.

So how does the study group format work?

On day one of the study group the selected representatives from industry will present their problems to the researchers in mathematics, statistics, engineering, computer science and related areas. They will then work together towards practical solutions, and first steps in approaching problems.

The academic participants will benefit from the access to real and novel industry problems, allowing them to expand their research portfolio. They also gain from this vital contact with industry and from meeting and working alongside academics from different research areas.

At this stage, the call is for companies to send problems to us – registration details for participants will be available soon.

For further information please contact Matt Butchers, Knowledge Transfer Manager, Industrial Mathematics.

TVBLEP announce their award winning funding escalator increase to £11.3m!

Posted on by

In 2013, Thames Valley Berkshire LEP invested nearly half its Growing Places Fund to create the TVB Funding Escalator to help local high-growth businesses. Managed by The FSE Group, the Funding Escalator has so far supported 51 companies and invested £8.3million of loans and equity, creating or safeguarding 594 jobs in the LEP area. In addition, £21million of private finance has been leveraged to help companies grow. The funding escalator has supported businesses from a wide range of different sectors, including Tech & Digital, Life Sciences, MedTech, Cultural & Creative and Food & Beverages.

To build on this success, the LEP has committed a further £3million to make the £11.3million an ‘evergreen fund’; and increased both the size of loans available up to £300,000 and the period up to 5 years. The increased scale of the fund will mean that it is self-sustaining so that it can continue to support SMEs in Berkshire in perpetuity. This represents a significant investment for the LEP and reinforces its determination to support SMEs in the area, from any sector, that want to grow and create wealth locally.

Robin Barnes, Programme Lead for Enterprise, Innovation & Business Growth at Thames Valley Berkshire LEP says: “We created the first funding escalator in the UK with the aim to transform the way businesses can grow by creating an enduring legacy of business investment, innovation and growth in our sub region. This increased capacity and evergreen status is a real game changer and I would encourage ambitious businesses to get in touch with The FSE Group.”

Chief Executive of The FSE Group, Dean Mayer, adds: “We are delighted to continue our close working relationship with Thames Valley Berkshire LEP. The Funding Escalator is here to help support businesses looking to grow substantially in Berkshire, and we are extremely proud of our achievements over the last 5 years. This new injection of £3million allows us to press ahead in reaching even more innovative and high-quality businesses in the area.”

 

**All text courtesy of TVBLEP on http://www.thamesvalleyberkshire.co.uk/news?id=69**

New Partnership between University of Reading and Red Whale!

Posted on by
In the Knowledge Transfer Centre at the University of Reading, we are continually looking to collaborate with exciting, innovative, local businesses in order to help create a positive global impact. We are therefore extremely delighted to announce our latest Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Red Whale, a company based right alongside us on the UoR campus. Red Whale are one of the leading providers of primary care medical education in the UK who specialise in producing evidence-based courses relevant to everyday practice, full of action points for delegates to take away and implement.
 
The project will see Red Whale working with three departments at the University of Reading; Computer Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, and the Institute of Education, in order to develop  a new medical education delivery method utilising an online platform, all the while meeting Red Whale’s core values of being relevant, challenging and fun.
 
We are extremely excited about our latest KTP and what the future will bring with this exciting partnership.
 
KTP or Knowledge Transfer Partnerships is Europe’s leading programme to help bridge the gap between industry and academia. The initiative helps businesses improve their competitiveness by enabling companies to work with higher education or research and technology organisations to obtain knowledge, technology or skills which they consider to be of strategic competitive importance. The  UK-wide programme is overseen by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, and supported by 16 other public sector funding organisations.
If your business has a product or service that could benefit from a KTP, contact us today to discuss the opportunities available to you in more detail. 

JOB ALERT! Excellent opportunity for a Digital Content Executive with Red Whale

Posted on by

Our new partnership with Red Whale has generated an exciting opportunity for a Digital Content Executive to join their team in Reading.

The 24-month fixed term contract role of the Digital Content Executive will be to develop a state-of-the-art, engaging and highly effective online teaching provision, innovative course content and assessment methods to compliment the current face-to-face offering delivered by Red Whale, and transform the business into an online operation.

In addition to an excellent £30,000pa salary (depending on qualifications and experience), the successful candidate will also benefit from an additional £2,000pa dedicated training budget specifically tailored to your own personal development.

Candidates need to submit an application by May 13th with interviews taking play May 29th, and the role to commence in June.

If you have questions about this or other KTP vacancies contact:
T: 0118 378 6142 E: ktpjobs@reading.ac.uk

Or you can apply now right here: https://bit.ly/2EESu68