Knowledge Transfer Secondments - Imperial College

Imperial College is sending researchers out of the lab and into companies, and bringing industry staff into the university, to turn EPSRC-funded discoveries into working products and services. This grant addresses a persistent gap between academic research and real-world use. Even promising lab breakthroughs often stall because the people who made them lack the time, connections, or incentive to push them toward application. The scheme treats people as the best vehicle for knowledge transfer: a researcher who spends six months inside a company can directly adapt their findings to that company’s needs, while an industry engineer embedded in a university lab can steer fundamental work toward practical problems. If the secondments succeed, the impact will be felt across multiple sectors. A materials scientist seconded to a manufacturer could accelerate a new coating for turbine blades. A computer scientist working with a logistics firm might refine an algorithm for routing deliveries. The grant does not dictate which applications emerge—it funds the movement of skilled people, trusting that proximity and collaboration will produce results that a paper alone cannot. The scheme also builds long-term relationships between academia and industry, making future transfers of knowledge faster and cheaper.