Date: Fri 28th January, 2011
Venue: The Great Hall, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT
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For coverage of this event, click here
Timings:
7:30am Registration
8:00am Meeting commences
9:05am Meeting concludes
Panellists include:
Angela Maxwell, OBE, advisory board member, Birmingham Business School and director, Acuwomen
Dr Tim Dafforn, business development manager and director of the Biomolecular Characterisation Facility School of Biosciences, the University of Birmingham
Our Question Time style event is a chance to put a panel of decision makers and opinion formers in front of an invited audience from the worlds of business and education.
It is a platform to discuss how academia and the business community are working together at the moment and to look at ways in which the relationship can be strengthened for the good of the regional economy.
Since we held our first Business of Education event a year ago the economic climate has altered significantly. Funding to universities has been drastically reduced and many companies - rightly or wrongly - have cut down on their research and development spend as the day to day survival of the business takes precedence.
But there has also been good news. For example, Jaguar Land Rover is moving its 170-person advanced research group to a local university. And universities in the Midlands remain at the forefront of research in the low carbon area - hydrogen-fuelled cars for example - as well as in fields as diverse as gaming, biotech, medical technologies and food and drink industry processes.
And knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs) have proved a huge hit in the Midlands. The scheme, whereby a company employs a post-graduate at a subsidised rate to work on a research-based project at a university - has really caught the imagination of local businesses.
Other issues likely to be discussed at our event include consultancy services, research and development, grants and courses, the worth of MBAs and workplace learning. Is enough being done to inform Midlands businesses about what is available at their local university or business school? Are businesses themselves giving academic institutions a fair crack of the whip or are they still too readily dismissed as being obsessed with pure rather than applied research?
The region’s future economic success is intrinsically linked to nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation; creating higher value jobs that can’t easily be exported to cheaper cost centres is the Holy Grail and helping existing companies to improve their products and processes.
Universities have a crucial role to play here. This forum will quiz those with power and those with knowledge about what they have achieved thus far and will discuss areas where things could be improved.
If you need any more information, please contact Claire.Winstanley@newsco.com.
Our events are regularly over-subscribed therefore please register your interest as soon as possible. If you have been successful you will receive a confirmation email one week prior to the event.
