INTRODUCTION

  The Bristol Colloid Centre (BCC) is an industrial consultancy organisation operating from within the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol. It was established by academics working in the field of colloid science[7] with the overall objective "to add value to industrial research and technology by effective transfer of colloid science knowledge". Through the use of short courses, one day awareness forum, and contract consultancy and research it has acted as a facilitator for the flow of colloid science knowledge into industry. Its most recent awareness forum (May 1998) was attended by 90 delegates from 48 companies, 20 of which were SMEs. Also since its inception in 1993 the BCC has had contact with approximately 220 UK companies, where about 100 of these companies are SMEs. The BCC has recently received funding from the DTI (£132,000 over 12 months) to evaluate the effectiveness of the technology transfer process, using colloid science as the enabling science and two sectors of industry (pigments and dyes and paints, coatings and inks). This programme was started in February of 1998.

  Since the BCC is contained within a university department, and interacts with over 200 UK based companies, it is ideally placed to comment on the flow of knowledge from academia into the industrial sector. The comments made are specifically relevant to the area of general coatings technology, but could be applied to many other areas of industry.

EVIDENCE

  1.  The development of new products is often not driven by the manufacturing company

    Companies that manufacture coatings materials are very often REACTIVE rather than PROACTIVE. They are often reacting to, for example: environmental legislation (phasing out of chemicals); raw material shortage; customer feedback (superior performance of competitor product, change of process conditions); and raw material supplier information (improved performance of new material).

  2.  Product innovation is often driven by component suppliers

    Suppliers of formulation components need to be at the forefront of their technology, both in terms of awareness and development. They are continually trying to replace their competitor's product with their own in a manufacturer's formulation. As a result they are always looking for a novel technical edge to their product. Product manufacturers tend to use their own resource to: (a) protect their core business through their IPR and patenting; and (b) evaluate the relative performance of their competitors' products.

  3.  Product invention is rarely an output from an academic research programme

    Academic research programmes are designed to give training in defining and solving problems. This is achieved through personnel development (interpersonal and communication skills), and the utilisation of available research techniques. This process should be the supply chain for the drivers for product innovation, ie the suppliers.

  4.  The problem of Technology Transfer is one which is solved through the provision of Technology Access. This provision is supplied at a number of different levels:

—  flow of undergraduate students into industry;

—  flow of postgraduate students into industry;

—  student interaction between industry and academia through, for example, CASE and industrial CASE studentships;

—  interaction between industry and academia through consultancy—often industry supply the product knowledge, while the academic input is one of measuring techniques; and

—  attendance by industrial personnel at conferences, awareness forums and training courses.

  5.  The provision may be categorised at two distinct levels: the supply of trained personnel into industry through graduate and postgraduate study; and the supply of a platform for continuous "in-service" training (of both individuals and companies). The former is addressed very successfully in the current higher education system. However, the "in-service" training provision has seemed to lack cohesion, and connectivity to the primary provision.

  6.  The BCC has attempted to develop a platform for raising the level of knowledge of modern technology through its Short Courses and Awareness Forum. Based on attendance numbers (individual and company), these appear to be very successful. However the problem of connectivity needs to be addressed, and the answer may already have been initiated in the form of the Faraday Centres. It should be possible to utilise this type of partnership to bring together the facilitators in higher education institutes (ie the academics) and the perceived facilitators in industry (ie the suppliers) to drive through the technology transfer. The access to this technology would be provided by:

—  Awareness Forum—a theme is identified for a one day seminar, which encourages cross fertilisation of ideas between different sectors of industry;

—  Short Courses—broad knowledge based courses and industry specific courses should be provided, which are accredited through, for example, the Royal Society of Chemistry;

—  Masters Courses—these courses should be designed (or re-designed) using the industrial facilitators, in line with the new EPSRC initiative;

—  Information Networks—a central information network should be provided through use of the internet incorporating a database of academic expertise in colloid science; and

—  Seed research—short-term seeding research and development (consultancy) programmes should be provided, with particular emphasis on the involvement of growth SMEs.