1 Introduction
1. The Science and Technology Committee is appointed
by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration
and policy of the Office of Science and Innovation (OSI)[1]
and its associated bodies. In the last Parliament, the Committee
scrutinised Research Councils by a series of inquiries into each
one. We have taken a different approach in this Parliament and
this inquiry represents the first scrutiny of the Research Councils
thematically. This inquiry, which was launched on the 1st December
2005, focused upon the effectiveness of the
Research Councils' knowledge transfer activities with particular
respect to: promotion of
collaborative working between researchers and partners in industry,
including in the creative industries and in Small and Medium size
Enterprises (SMEs); stakeholder engagement and communication;
results and performance management and; co-ordination between
the Councils and the role of Research Councils UK (RCUK).
2. We
were grateful to receive written evidence from a range of representatives
from UK academic and industrial sectors. We also appreciated comprehensive
memoranda from the Government, setting out policy for knowledge
transfer, and from RCUK, who set out evidence in response to the
main topics and questions identified above. The RCUK memorandum
also contained supplementary views from each of the Research Councils.
3. We
held three oral evidence sessions during this inquiry:
i. On the 15th March 2006, we took evidence
from the Director General of the Research Councils, Professor
Sir Keith O'Nions and from a separate panel representing the academic
sector: Professor Christopher Snowden, Vice-Chancellor, University
of Surrey; Professor Diana Green, Vice-Chancellor, Sheffield Hallam
University; and Dr Bob Bushaway, University of Birmingham, representing
the Association for University Research and Industrial Links (AURIL);
ii. On the 29th March 2006 we took oral evidence
from an External Challenge Panel established by the Research Councils
to examine their knowledge transfer activities: Professor John
Murphy, Head of University Partnerships, BAe Systems (Panel Chair);
Ms Barbara Doig, Scottish Executive; and Professor Richard Brook
OBE, ex-Chief Executive of the Sira Group of Companies. We heard
from a separate panel representing the industrial
sector: Sir John Chisholm, Executive Chairman, QinetiQ Group plc;
Dr Malcolm Skingle, Director, Academic Liaison, GlaxoSmithKline;
Tony McBride, Confederation of British Industry (CBI); and Dr
Ian Ritchie, Technology Entrepreneur, Coppertop; and
iii. On the 19th April, we held an oral evidence
session with Professor Philip Esler, Chief Executive of the Arts
and Humanities Research Council (AHRC); Professor Ian Diamond,
Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
and Chair of the RCUK Executive Group; Professor John O' Reilly,
Chief Executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council (EPSRC); and Professor Keith Mason, Chief Executive of
the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC).
We are grateful to all those who gave oral evidence
during the inquiry. Transcripts of the oral evidence sessions
are published alongside this report, together with written evidence
submitted to the inquiry.
1 The Office of Science and Innovation (OSI) was created
on 3 April 2006, by merging DTI's Innovation Group (IG) into the
previous Office of Science and Technology (OST). Back
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