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Manchester University Author Mike Peel Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed Source Wikimedia Commons |
In Sci-Tech Daresbury Networkhub I wrote about the networking meetings that take place between 08:00 and 09:30 at Sci-Tech Daresbury and online on a Friday morning some 10 times a year. I noted that the main event of the morning takes place around 09:00 when Paul Treloar invites selected members of the audience to introduce themselves and their businesses. If the speaker has news that might interest the audience such as a source of funding or the opening of an office on campus the pitch is his or her opportunity to mention it.
I am very grateful to Ed Gray, Business Growth and Support Executive at Daresbury, for emailing information about some of the pitches at the event that was held on 15 March 2024. One of them was by the University of Manchester which has recently published a Funding Guide to Knowledge Exchange Partnerships. The guide is intended for those who wish to work with Manchester University. Other universities offer similar arrangements.
The guide focuses on Impact Acceleration Account funding and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships. The former offers "fast,
flexible support to help businesses
and other organisations develop
mutually beneficial partnerships with an academic expert." This type of funding is proposed for Relationship Development, Proof of Concept and Secondments and two case studies are mentioned in the guide. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships involve larger funds over longer periods. Again, two case studies are discussed in the publication.
Now it has to be stressed that this type of funding is not for everybody. Sometimes the interests of the business on such matters as entitlement to apply for patents for inventions that may result from the research may not coincide with the interests of the University. It is therefore essential that the respective rights and obligations of the parties are agreed well in advance and such terms as may be agreed are embodied faithfully in a written contract. The university and business collaboration agreements known as the "Lambert Toolkit" which I discussed in Lambert Toolkit: Business and University Collaboration Agreements on 8 April 2019 in NIPC News is a good place to start.
Businesses - particularly startups and other small and medium enterprises - will almost certainly need specialist legal advice in negotiating terms and drafting agreements unless they can access it in-house. This is an area in which I have some experience both by assisting in the drafting of some of the collaboration agreements and in advising and representing businesses that seek collaboration agreements with universities. As with every other type of work I do, I can be instructed through a patent attorney or solicitor or directly under the public access terms.
Anyone wishing to discuss this topic can call me on 020 7404 5252 during normal business hours or send me a message through my contact form.
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