Innovation and Engagement Fund: COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS 2011/12 TO 2014/15

PROJECT PARTNERS LEAD HEI PROJECT SUMMARY

CADARN Skills Centre

Aberystwyth, Bangor and Glyndŵr Universities and the OU in Wales

Bangor University

Further development of the former Aber-Bangor Skills Centre to include Glyndŵr University and the OU in Wales. The Skills Centre is a key vehicle for employer engagement activity in the CADARN Regional Partnership of North Wales HE and FE institutions. Its overarching aim is to increase the availability of HE training and CPD provision to employers and their workforces across North and Mid Wales.

Dragon Innovation Partnership (DIP)

Swansea University, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Swansea University

Phase 2 funding was awarded to DIP to facilitate a focus of activity on identified Welsh Government priority sectors, providing focused support for “companies, business intermediaries and government agencies associated with each key sector” with the ultimate aim of packaging aggregate provision across DIP into a consolidated “package” of products, with DIP providing a single front of house service to organisations and stakeholders. An independent evaluation of DIP Phase 1 estimated that the partners secured up to £20m in external income as a result of DIP-initiated activity.

Driving Enterprise and Innovation in the Cardiff-city Region

Cardiff University and Cardiff Council

Cardiff University

This is a new strategic partnership between Cardiff University and Cardiff Council to drive innovation in the Cardiff-city region by:

Delivering entrepreneurial and innovative graduates to the labour market.

Leading and developing innovation based challenge – led initiatives that will formulate holistic solutions to global challenges

Developing a Cardiff Innovation Centre to house innovative graduate start-ups and high growth potential businesses.

Enterprise Support Programme (ESP)

All Welsh HEIs, Welsh Government

University of South Wales

ESP aims to develop and encourage fledgling entrepreneurs from across the student body in Wales to realise their potential for creating new and innovative businesses and feed into the support available from

Welsh Government’s Start-up Service. The overall aim is to encourage students and graduates from Welsh HEIs and FEIs to

cultivate their aptitude and self confidence to improve their overall employability and entrepreneurship skills. ESP is also designed to feed students and graduates into the support available from the Welsh Government’s Start-up Service.

IP Commercialisation Project (IPCoP)

Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Swansea Universities, University of South Wales

Cardiff University

IPCoP aims to create an effective network of Welsh TTOs, which the SDDG can collaboratively use to build its activities in the IP commercialisation sector, the initial outputs of which will be a meaningful uplift in technology transfer-related metrics as captured by the HEBCI survey. In the medium to long term, the operation and success of this collaboration will be used to inform and build the future structure of the management of intellectual property from HEIs in Wales.

Strategic Insight Programme (SIP)

All Welsh HEIs University of South Wales

The aim of SIP is to increase the number of academics in Wales who actively engage in knowledge exchange and also the number of organisations (in all sectors) that engage with Welsh HEIs. The programme provides opportunities for academics to undertake short term placements in external organisations and vice versa.

China – Wales HE Training Consortium

All Welsh HEIs except the OU in Wales, Welsh Government

University of South Wales

This pilot project was initiated by the Office of the First Minister and forms an action under the twinning relationship between Wales and the Chongqing region of China. A training consortium of Welsh HEIs has been established in order to provide training and CPD to organisations in Chongqing. If successful, the intention is to roll out the model further.