Completed Education & Skills Economics & Business

Knowledge Transfer Account - Loughborough University

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

Loughborough University is building a system to turn its engineers and scientists into people who can push their lab discoveries out into the real world. This matters because a persistent gap exists between UK research breakthroughs and their commercial or societal use. Many academics have the technical skill to invent something but lack the training, incentives, or partnerships to get it adopted by industry, the NHS, or government. The project tackles that gap head-on by training staff in exploitation skills, embedding researchers directly into user organisations, and building long-term partnerships with companies and public-sector bodies. If this succeeds, the impact will be felt in the everyday systems that engineering research quietly improves—manufacturing processes, energy grids, water treatment, medical devices, and digital infrastructure. A researcher who learns how to license a new sensor material, for example, could see it reach a factory floor years faster than usual. The project also creates a pipeline: early-career researchers who gain exploitation experience are more likely to make it a permanent part of their academic careers, building a culture where impact is routine, not an afterthought.

View original technical description
Developing people - We will:- Support and develop existing academic staff who are demonstrating an appetite and aptitude for exploitation of their EPSRC research in a way that simultaneously adds prestige to their KT activity and increases the likelihood of successful exploitation. - Support and develop existing research staff who are demonstrating an appetite and aptitude for exploitation of their EPSRC research in a way that accelerates them towards an academic career in which exploitation features prominently.- Provide opportunities for KT skills training to research staff Better Exploitation - We will:- Create a greater focus on exploitation throughout the lifespan of research projects. - Bridge the gap between end of research project, and interest from external funders User Engagement - We will:- Create mechanisms that ensure that research is informed and inspired by the context of use. - Build partnerships with users, characterised by multiple interactions with the research base. - Build on successful schemes that have seen direct placement of skilled researchers in collaborating research users, increasing flexibility to encompass a broader range of career levels, and allowing forexchanges in either direction.

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Researchers

Kathryn Burchell (Co-Investigator)Kathryn Walsh (Principal Investigator)

Related Research

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Original classification

Training Grant

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.