House of Commons - Science and Technology

Select Committee on Science and Technology Minutes of Evidence

Memorandum submitted by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

INTRODUCTION

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) acts on behalf of government to support research and postgraduate training in engineering and the physical sciences, with a total budget of some £383 million (1998-99). Its mission is:

"To promote and support high quality basic, strategic and applied research and related postgraduate training in engineering and the physical sciences, placing special emphasis on meeting the needs of the users, thereby contributing to the UK's economic competitiveness and quality of life."

As a principal source of public funding for research in engineering and physical sciences, and as the main body responsible for administering Government research and training schemes in these fields, the EPSRC and its policies and acitivities are of central relevance to the inquiry.

SUMMARY

1. EPSRC's remit covers pre-competitive research, carried out almost wholly at Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). The emphasis is on basic and strategic research with specific applied research accounting for perhaps 7 per cent of the portfolio. The Council's objectives are to construct a portfolio which can generate the knowledge, expertise and trained people needed to sustain the UK in the future; and for that knowledge and the trained people to flow from the universities into the economy.

2. In constructing the portfolio and allocating the available finance, EPSRC consults industry and commerce widely and directly, through the Council's advisory User Panel, the Foresight exercise, and a wide range of on-going contacts with companies themselves, intermediate organisations and trade associations.

3. Intellectual property rights arising from research undertaken with EPSRC financial support reside with academic institutions. Institutions in receipt of training awards or grants are encouraged to identify, protect and exploit intellectual property where appropriate for the promotion of innovation.

4. The flow of people and interchange of knowledge and ideas between universities and industry is facilitated by a number of schemes aimed at encouraging collaborative research, postgraduate training and people transfer. Recent new schemes include: Faraday Partnerships, Industrial CASE awards and arrangements for encouraging the movement of contract researchers (postdoctoral research assistants) into industry.

5. EPSRC is active in disseminating information about its research and training portfolio through its Programme Managers who work with their industrial communities, through publications, and through electronic media such as the World Wide Web.

EPSRC POLICY

The goal for EPSRC is to establish a balanced portfolio of research and training, delivered through imaginative and flexible schemes, aimed at providing the knowledge and skills that are needed by the UK. The key outputs from EPSRC-funded activities are trained people, knowledge and expertise, and so EPSRC's approach is to foster a climate where partnerships between academia and industry can flourish, and where knowledge exchange, and of equal importance, the flow of people and ideas are actively encouraged.

EPSRC places the funds it receives via the Science Vote selectively with universities (70 per cent of the Council's research grant expenditure is concentrated in approximately 25 institutions). The research is predominantly pre-competitive in nature, with only limited involvement in product development or technical improvement at individual companies. However, it encourages the involvement of industry throughout its programmes and processes, and the support of industrial collaborators is always welcomed, particularly where their input/contribution can significantly help the progress of the research.

EPSRC operates through an annual planning cycle, during which the following year's priorities and funding distributions are determined. A key part of that cycle is direct consultation with both the academic and industrial communities. The Council also receives advice on priorities from its user community via the User Panel. The Foresight exercise is another valuable source of input to the planning cycle; as well as carrying forward Foresight Panel recommendations, EPSRC Programme Managers often take part in Panel meetings.

EPSRC does not have its own units or institutes which employ scientists and engineers directly, and which consequently generate intellectual property. Instead, EPSRC encourages institutions in receipt of a training award or grant to identify, protect and exploit intellectual property where this is appropriate for the promotion of innovation. It is normal and expected for collaborative agreements to be arranged between the HEI and collaborating companies or organisations, to deal with issues of intellectual property.

SCHEMES FOSTERING TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

The flow of people and interchange of knowledge and ideas between universities and industry are encouraged in three principal ways. These are:

— Collaborative research, where partnerships are formed between the providers of the research and the users of the results;

Relevant postgraduate training,

Flow of people,

Collaborative Research

Research grants Of EPSRC's total budget of £383 million, about £230 million (60 per cent) is allocated to grants funding. In most cases, there is no requirement for industrial involvement, and the quality of the proposed research is the primary determinant for funding. However, the support of industrial collaborators is always welcomed, particularly where their involvement can significantly help the progress of the research. Figure 1 shows that the Engineering for Manufacturing and Engineering for Infrastructure programmes have the greatest percentage of collaborative grants. In total, 45 per cent of the research grants budget is associated with direct industrial support. In all cases, young well-trained post-graduate or post-doctoral researchers are key outputs from EPSRC grants.

Managed programmes are used to support strategic research with specific aims or a defined research agenda. They often are aimed at encouraging multi-disciplinary research, and often involve joint funding with third parties such as industry. They are delivered through calls for proposals, usually with closing dates.

LINK EPSRC has long been associated with this Government-wide scheme for encouraging collaborative research between the science and engineering base, and the users of research in industry, commerce, the service sector, and elsewhere. EPSRC currently supports 11 LINK Programmes.

The Innovative Manufacturing Initiative (IMI) is a joint venture between EPSRC and a number of other research councils and government departments. It adopts an industry-led agenda, focusing on industrial sectors and establishing partnerships between universities and companies from the inception of a project. IMI's current programme relates to four industrial sectors: aerospace, construction, process engineering and automotive.

Faraday Partnerships This initiative promises to provide an effective route for SMEs to gain access, via intermediate research organisations, to university research and training which they might otherwise have been unable to reach. These intermediate organisations are ideally placed to act as an interface, communicating the research and training requirements of an industrial sector to the academic institutions involved, and increasing the take-up of the results within industry. In this way, it is hoped that strong networks will be developed. Four Partnerships have each received initial EPSRC funding of £50,000 to meet start-up costs, with up to £1 million each available over the next 18 months for the support of collaborative research projects, and education and training programmes. The topics addressed by the four Partnerships are: hybrid electronic/mechanical products, sensors for control technologies, 3D multimedia technologies, and packaging technologies.

Industrially Relevant Postgraduate Training

Spending on training accounts for £79 million of EPSRC's budget. £36 million of this is associated with direct industrial involvement. The various schemes are:

CASE Co-operative Awards in Science and Engineering (CASE) are doctoral-level training projects jointly agreed and supervised by an academic and an industrial (or other) researcher. A CASE student must spend three months of the three-year award working in the laboratory of the collaborating body. In 1997-98,15 per cent of EPSRC's 1500 studentships were CASE awards.

Industrial CASE In this successful extension to the CASE scheme, companies with a track-record of participation in EPSRC work are allocated studentship quotas directly, which they can then place with academic partners of their choice. SMEs have been brought within the scheme through the involvement of regional technology organisations, who were allocated a small number of CASE awards to distribute. These include the Technology Transfer Centre, Glasgow; Wales Relay Centre, Cardiff; RTC North Ltd, Sunderland; Kent Technology Transfer Centre; and the Specialised Organic Chemicals Sector Association. 126 industrial CASE awards have been allocated in 1997-98, with an increase to 235 planned for 1998-99.

Integrated Graduate Development Scheme (IGDS) provides modular courses at postgraduate level, specifically matched to the requirements of particular industrial sectors. Forty-five programmes involving more than 300 companies have been funded.

Postgraduate Training Partnerships (PTPs) These are partnerships between certain universities and industrial research organisations (IROs) where students carry out their research in the IRO while receiving academic supervision and course work from the university. There are eight partnerships, with a total of 65 studentships awarded.

Engineering Doctorates This scheme is aimed at engaging engineering industries in doctoral training. Companies help define courses and provide industrial placements for students to work on research projects. There are five centres operating the scheme, with a total of 75 awards.

Transfer of People

Industrial Fellowships The Royal Society and EPSRC jointly offer fellowships to allow industrialists to work in academia, or academic staff to work in industry for periods of up to two years. Six to 10 Fellowships are awarded per year.

The Teaching Company Scheme (TCS) allows young graduates (Teaching Company Associates) to work in industry introducing new technology under the supervision of an academic researcher. Associates often enrol for a postgraduate qualification. The scheme thus covers training and technology transfer, as well as providing new graduates with industrial experience. EPSRC contributed £7 million to the scheme in 1997-98.

Placement of RAs in Industry This is a new scheme which has been successfully piloted in the Engineering for Manufacturing Programme, which from 1 April 1998 will be broadened to cover the rest of the Council's Programmes, with an eventual target of 200 placements per year. It offers an optional extra year to postdoctoral research assistants employed on EPSRC collaborative research grants, giving them the opportunity to work in the industrial concern with which their research has been associated, and giving the companies involved the chance to implement and further explore the research results.

OTHER RELEVANT ACTIVITIES

A key enabler of knowledge and technology transfer is information dissemination: about schemes and funding opportunities, about current research and training activities, and about the people carrying out the research and training. EPSRC has a number of activities under this heading:

— Several EPSRC Programmes have supported the establishment of networks, which bring together diverse groups from universities and industry, with the aim of encouraging the transfer of ideas and technological expertise.

— All current grants supported by EPSRC and the other Research Councils are included in a CD-ROM "Experts for Industry" produced by a Cambridge-based company, Oakland.

— EPSRC's web site, established in 1996, is now undergoing significant re-design, with the particular aim of making richer information on programmes and individual projects more accessible.

— The EPSRC also produces a quarterly journal, EPSRC Newsline, which includes general news about EPSRC-supported people and activities, and also special editions to focus on particular initiatives and events.

— The EPSRC Annual Conference in November 1997 took the new Faraday Partnerships as its theme and attracted a wide and varied industrial audience.

53,

— skills development (54, 23-35, 1997)

— women in science, engineering and technology (55, 27-20, 1998)

25 February 1998