Dr David Secher writes about the evolution of knowledge exchange policy

  • 05 March 2019
  • 1 minute

Caius Fellow and knowledge exchange expert Dr David Secher writes about 40 years of policy evolution on either side of the Atlantic, in light of the UK’s new knowledge exchange framework, which was unveiled last month.

In the Times Higher Education article, Dr Secher, writing with technology entrepreneur Surya Raghu, says, “The UK continues to beat itself up over its supposed inability to capitalise commercially on the global excellence of its research, but it should not. From a very low base 30 years ago, university-business collaborations in the UK now total £4.2 billion a year, and more than 30 per cent of academics have had experience of working with business.”

He contrasts how the different policy approaches have led to different models for technology transfer (also known as Knowledge Exchange) in the UK and the USA. Drawing on their experience of training and consultancy in more than 30 countries, the authors conclude that the UK models are generally more relevant to the needs of developing countries.

The authors also stress the important role of professional training, policy and networking associations, such as Praxis, which Secher set up in Cambridge in 2002 and which now, as PraxisAuril, dominates the UK space.

Read the full article at Times Higher Education (free registration required).

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