Written evidence submitted by the Business
and Innovation and Science Boards, Institute of Physics (TIC 84)
The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity
devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application
of physics. It has a worldwide membership of around 40 000
and is a leading communicator of physics-related science to all
audiences, from specialists through to government and the general
public. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader
in scientific publishing and the electronic dissemination of physics.
This submission was prepared in consultation with
the Institute's Business and Innovation and Science Boards.
1. What is the Fraunhofer model and would it be
applicable to the UK?
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has operated in Germany
since 1949, working in the space between academic research and
the commercial exploitation of science and technology.[134]
It operates 59 institutes in Germany, along with a small number
of international centres, covering a breadth of science and technology
disciplines. The essence of the "Fraunhofer model" is
that each centre is dedicated to a specific, individual application
area, such as applied polymer research or laser technology. The
institutes are physical locations, established and typically maintained
over decades, growing, evolving and, ultimately, closing as the
technology matures. The institutes themselves are often located
adjacent to, and strongly coupled with, universities with relevant
interests. The numbers of people involved are usually a few hundred
per institute, with relative autonomy from the Munich HQ but with
some central specialist support in areas such as legal, commercial
and IP.
Key features of the operation of the Fraunhofer institutes
include:
- People
The people working in the Fraunhofer institutes range
from early career students, to mature researchers and also include,
importantly, mid-career, experienced and high-quality technical
staff. The latter, stable (i.e. not on short, fixed-term contracts)
grouping in particular has no obvious analogue in the UK academic
research system, but act as a vital link to industry. The Fraunhofer
institutes have also shown some success in staff mobility. It
could be perceived that the population of staff is static; in
practice, it is natural and expected that careers develop so that
people move voluntarily in and out of the institutes, to/from
academia/industry. In some cases, there is almost complete integration
of researchers and students between institute and university,
not just serially from role to role, but throughout their studies
and research (shared projects, facilities, common rooms etc).
For example, researchers are able to take their concepts to use
through the companies involved, moving flexibly from employment
by the university, to institute to company. A key value-adding
component is the facility for industrial researchers, identifying
a demand for more fundamental studies, to choose to undertake
research or move into the research institute later in their careers.
In this case, the relative proximity of the institutes to universities
and businesses can be seen as an asset, as there is less disruption
of personal circumstances resulting from such moves.
- Financing
The funding for individual institutes is relatively
stable, drawn from local and national grants and government and
industry contracts. The themes of the institutes are selected
and championed by the researchers and companies jointly to meet
both local and national needs. To gain funding, institutes are
selected and costed properly against formal business plans and
programmes are able to be stopped if the progress is not in accordance
with goals. If novel outcomes emerge from the work undertaken,
they can be pursued flexibly by local agreement. Projects are
not peer reviewed by academics to gain funding but by business
people alongside technical specialists; output is not measured
by academic quality or publications but by industry relevance
and support.
- Market culture
Each institute is strongly coupled with a small number
of market sectors and/or business communities. As such, industry
needs and drivers are accommodated automatically and research
developments are transferred to the user communities. This arrangement
also has the benefit that knowledge of supply chains and market
cultures pervade the institutes. The institutes have been in place
for several years, and the relative stability of the structure
means that industry and business trust and rely on the Institutes.
In terms of how the model could be applied to the
UK, there is a long-acknowledged "gap" between the strength
of research in universities and other institutions, and commercial
applications within UK industry. The business-focused remit of
the Fraunhofer Institutes is something that could be replicated
in the UK to fill, at least parts of, this gap. However, for this
to happen, it will be necessary to (a) determine which business
sectors need such research support, and (b) what the scope is
for this research to be co-funded in an appropriate way. Both
of these decisions will need to be made following extensive consultation
with both industry and academia.
However, it should be noted that there are many significant
differences between the German and UK research ecosystems, ranging
form the tax system to local geography, which must be understood
and taken account of if such centres are to be of benefit to the
UK. One important difference is that the German university sector
is not nearly as research intensive as the UK system and the creation
of new centres may have unintended detrimental impacts on this
strength. An indirect effect of creating such Institutes may well
be to put further pressure on the universities which use research
contracts as alternative sources of funding. It will be important,
in considering the Fraunhofer model in the UK, to determine such
second order impacts on other research institutions.
The coalition government has recently announced[135]
that it will create UK analogues for the Fraunhofer institutes:
'Technology and Innovation Centres (TICs), proposed and described
by Hermann Hauser in his review[136]
earlier this year. These centres are expected to be allocated
£250 million over a four-year period. This level of funding
suggests that there will be around five new centres created, at
least in the first instance. In contrast, the 59 Fraunhofer Institutes
have an annual research budget of €1.6 billion; €1.3
billion of which is generated through contract research with both
industry and government. The remainder of the budget is in the
form of state grants. When considering the appropriate level of
funding for the new UK centres, it should be remembered that one
of the reasons that industry goes to universities for collaborative
research in the UK is because they are relatively well-equipped.
The costs of reproducing some of these facilities in the institutes
should not be underestimated. Additionally, given the relatively
small number of centres likely to be created, and the stated aim
of the new TICs to support high-growth sectors where the UK has
the potential to be a world player it is essential that there
not be too much co-ordination, which would run the risk of stifling
new ideas through the establishment of "clubs" which
have a vested interest in following a single path and fixing research
at a single point in time.
Related to the funding allocated to each centre is
clearly the size and sustainability of the centres. In the past,
initiatives such as the Research Associations have suffered from
being too small to survive in the longer term, being unable to
fund research to renew their intellectual competitiveness which
had knock-on effects on the industrial sectors they supported.
Additionally, it should be emphasised that the success of the
Fraunhofer Institutes in engaging with businesses was not instant.
2. Are there existing Fraunhofer-type research
centres within the UK, and if so, are they effective?
The UK has had in the past, and has currently, many
successful research facilities which have tried to fill the gap
between academic research and the commercial sectors. The coordinated
nature of the Fraunhofer institutes, and also their direct industry
focus, have not been defining features of current UK centres.
What has now become the Harwell Campus has a strong history in
developing technologies for commercialisation, and retains much
of this expertise across broad fields. In the past, defence research
centres such as the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE)
at Malvern have shown demonstrable result of developing technologies
such as LCDs and semiconductors which were subsequently brought
to the commercial market.
There are many newer excellent research centres across
the UK, such as the Southampton ORC[137]
and the NaREC renewable energy centre in Blythe,[138]
and, while these are not "Fraunhofer-like", they, like
many others could make a case for being 'converted' into TICs.
Additionally, other models such as the Warwick Manufacturing Centre
may come close to being an industry-focused centre, additionally
some science parks, though it could be argued that theirs is a
very different model.
3. What other models are there for research centres
oriented toward applications and results?
Hermann Hauser's review describes many of the current
programmes operating around the world, such as the ETRI centres
in South Korea and particularly the role of DARPA in the US. Closer
to home, the "Competence Centre" model which is being
used in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, comprises
collaborative centres tasked with performing industry-facing research
and development. A slightly different approach that should not
be neglected is that of the Rolls-Royce University Technology
Centres[139]
which have shown considerable success in linking academic research
with the demands of corporate development.
4. Whose role should it be to coordinate research
in a UK-wide network of innovation centres?
For the TICs to succeed, they will need to be trusted
by the business communities. To foster this, the centres should
have strong business elements in any leadership structures, and
there is a need for high-profile appointments, rather than secondments.
Additionally, there is a need to have a clear idea of business
sectors in the UK and their needs in terms of technology translation.
The Technology Strategy Board has been suggested to operate the
TICs, and we would agree that it is are well placed, both in terms
of its own expertise, but also, perhaps more importantly, its
ability to draw together figures from relevant industries and
also its ability to work with the research councils.
5. What effect would the introduction of Fraunhofer-type
institutes have on the work of Public Sector Research Establishments
and other existing research centres that undertake Government
sponsored research?
In Germany there are other national and corporate
labs in addition to the Fraunhofer institutes which have distinct
roles and all work well together within the broader innovation
ecosystem. Similarly, in the UK, there are several stand-alone
and "arm's length" research centres which may be able
to work alongside TICs in the same way (though any refocusing
of existing funding will undoubtedly have some impact). However,
as mentioned previously, a significant difference between the
German system and the UK version is the research strength of UK
universities. The role of the TICs with respect to these must
be carefully examined. While the briefs and main objectives of
the two bodies will be different there may well be significant
overlap in activity - or even on occasion with TIC based within
a university itself - and also conflict for public funding.
It should be remembered through any implementation
of TICs that their success, and, more widely, a significant proportion
of UK economic growth is ultimately predicated on the strength
of the research base. The funding and governance of the TICs should
not impact deleteriously university research and any new model
should be considered in the whole.
Professor Marshall Stoneham FRS
CPhys FinstP
President
John Brindley
Director, Membership and Business
Institute of Physics
9 December 2010
134 http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/ Back
135
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=416174&NewsAreaID=2 Back
136
The Current and Future Role of Technology and Innovation Centres
in the UK, a Report for the Department of Business, Innovation
and Skills by Hermann Hauser.
http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/innovation/docs/10-843-role-of-technology-innovation-centres-hauser-review.pdf Back
137
www.orc.soton.ac.uk Back
138
www.narec.co.uk Back
139
See, for example: http://www.shef.ac.uk/systemsutc/index.html Back
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