Edition 12
Welcome to the 12th edition of NESTA Innovation Digest (ID). NESTA ID is intended to provide fortnightly information and links on the latest news from the world of innovation policy and research and news of international issues and events.
We're sifting news and updates from dozens of websites and bulletins for each edition of ID. We're keen to know how we could improve this service, or perhaps you have suggestions for inclusion - please email digest@enews.nesta.org.uk
Regards,
Richard Halkett - Executive Director, NESTA Policy and Research Unit
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This issue
Research Fortnight reports that DIUS intends to write a new science and innovation strategy, while DCSF with DIUS have published the Education and Skills Bill, to raise the leaving age and enhance skills provision to young people and adults. DIUS and the Chinese Ministry of Science Technology have launched Innovation China UK, a collaborative proof of concept fund. Pinewood Studios has announced plans for a £200m development, and the University of Manchester and Syngenta, with funding from the TSB, have launched a joint Innovation Centre. The CBI has released a report on climate change, entitled 'Everyone's Business'.
Policy
Research Fortnight - New DIUS strategy on science and innovation 21-11-07
Minister Ian Pearson announced work on a new science and innovation strategy. There will be a focus on services, user-led, open and hidden innovation.
DCSF and DIUS – Education and Skills Bill 29-11-07
Intends to boost the skills and education of young people and adults. Measures include raising the education and training leaving age to 18 by 2015 and meeting the Leitch Review targets for an increased provision of services by 2020.
Conservative Party education green paper – Raising the bar, closing the gap 20-11-07
Outlines plans intended to provide 220,000 extra school places, remove obstacles which prevent new schools being established and divert more resources to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Boost to UK creative industries with the £200m redevelopment of Pinewood studios 16-11-07
Project Pinewood will increase UK film capacity and create a community of media professionals living in 2,000 new homes.
DIUS – Launch of Innovation China UK 20-11-07
Joint ‘proof of concept’ fund to help secure commercial investment for collaborative R&D projects in six areas and increase knowledge transfer between 5 UK and 10 Chinese HEIs. £5m funding from HEIF and the Chinese Ministry of Science Technology.
HEFCE consultation – Assessment and funding of higher education research post-2008 22-11-07
Aims to develop a new ‘research excellence framework’, which will use metrics that take account of differences between disciplines. This will be introduced gradually between 2010 and 2014. Responses are due by 14 February 2008.
Syngenta and the University of Manchester – Launch of University Innovation Centre 14-11-07
The new centre, with £500k of funding from the Technology Strategy Board, will develop sensor sciences for applications in agriculture and the food supply chain.
HM Treasury paper – Productivity in the UK: 7 - securing long-term prosperity November 2007
Outlines the Government's framework for increasing the productivity growth rate and narrowing the overall gap with comparator countries. It proposes the use of five levers intended to help meet long-term challenges and opportunities.
Peterborough Innovation Centre 16-11-07
The Centre for Sustainable Engineering, EEDA, Opportunity Peterborough, Peterborough City Council, and UK CEED plan to open a new centre to support the growth of the city’s hi-tech environmental technology cluster.
DIUS – £13.4m fellowship and alumni initiative to encourage international scientific collaboration 27-11-07
The Government will fund the Royal Society, the British Academy, RAENG and RCUK to run an international fellowship scheme and alumni engagement programme to attract international researchers into the UK and encourage collaboration.
Foundation for Science and Technology – Standing on the shoulders of science: Sir David King valedictory lecture 27-11-07
The outgoing Government Chief Scientific Adviser discussed the use of GM, the role of nuclear power and how government needs to be more scientifically literate.
Public Administration Select Committee – Evidence from Ed Miliband MP and Phil Hope MP 20-11-07
The Ministers gave evidence on commissioning public services from the Third Sector and answered questions on Government policy to increase the sector’s role in the work of the State.
DIUS – Extension of the Train to Gain scheme 26-11-07
Doubling of funding in the service is part of DIUS £11bn a year investment plan for education, employment and training, including £30m a year SME management training and expansion of the LSC's National Employer Service.
BERR – Britain to build the world's biggest biomass plant 21-11-07
The Energy Secretary John Hutton announced the building of a 350MW wood-chipped fuelled electricity generating plant in Port Talbot, South Wales. It will provide electricity to half of the homes in Wales. Its expected lifetime is 25 years.
Walker Final Guidelines for Disclosure and Transparency in Private Equity 20-11-07
Recommendations on transparency and disclosure for portfolio companies and private equity firms. Measures focus on additional reporting obligations across the private equity industry.
The Council for Science and Technology – Strategic decision making for technology policy 22-11-07
Highlights six new technologies as central to the UK’s future prosperity: carbon capture and storage; disaster mitigation technologies; plastic electronics; low carbon distribution networks for electricity supply; medical devices and e-health.
NAO and Morgan Harris Burrows report – The Carbon Trust: Innovation and Investment 22-11-07
In 2006-07 the Carbon Trust spent £103m to help UK businesses and public sector organisations reduce their CO2 emissions by two million tonnes. Argues that by 2010 emissions will reduce by 4.4m tonnes/year, with estimated savings between £410 and £655m
Science Museum – Launchpad science exhibition 24-11-07
A £4m interactive gallery intended to attract young people to science. Developed in conjunction with teachers, students, accessibility experts and scientists, Launchpad supports six areas of the school science curriculum.
Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment – Research and Development Report 26-11-07
Total expenditure on R&D in 2006 was £319m, a rise of £8.4m (2.7%) in real terms over the last year. £155m (48.7%) was spent by businesses and £150m (47%) by the HE sector.
Launch of ATRiuM - Creative hub for Wales 23-11-07
Intended to train future creative industry professionals, with a focus on collaborative and interdisciplinary projects. It will also be the new home to the University of Glamorgan’s Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries.
European Commission – Proposed Strategic Energy Technology Plan 23-11-07
Research commissioner PotoÄnik and energy commissioner Piebalgs presented proposals intended to reduce the costs of existing energy technologies and to develop the next generation of energy related technologies to help meet the 2050 reductions target.
EU – Public-private research partnerships 21-11-07
At a meeting of national ministers, €10 billion was approved for joint public-private technology research initiatives, with a focus on nanotechnology.
European Research Council – Launch of €4 billion Advanced Grant scheme 21-11-07
The funding will be allocated over the next 6 years to the best research projects and the most talented researchers across Europe, including new and fast-growing research fields that will be central to the knowledge society of the future.
Innovation, Universities and Skills Select Committee – Series of evidence sessions 21-11-07
Lord Sainsbury gave evidence on his recent review of science and innovation policies, 21 November. Other sessions are higher education (28 November), the Government Chief Scientific Adviser (12 December) and the formation of DIUS (16 January 2008).
Innovation, Universities and Skills Select Committee inquiry – Renewable electricity-generation technologies 28-11-07
Will examine R&D, international collaboration, technology transfer, commercialisation, skills, existing Government policy to meet targets and the proposed Energy Technologies Institute.
Research
OECD – PISA survey of youth scientific knowledge 29-11-07
Determined by science tests of 15 yr olds, Finland came top, Hong Kong second and Canada third. The UK slipped from 4 to 14. Full results to be published 4 December.
European Commission report – Remuneration of researchers in the private and public sectors 13-11-07
The average salary for EU researchers is almost €23,000 less than the average in the US, and also below average salaries in Australia, India and Japan. The study also notes differences between male and female researchers, as much as 35% in some countrie
CBI report – Climate Change: Everyone's Business 26-11-07
Assesses the challenges posed by climate change in every major UK sector. Argues that the UK's carbon reduction targets for 2020 are likely to be missed but that 2050 goals can be achieved.
IoD paper – A competitive response to climate change 19-11-07
Considers the route to effective policy design, and discusses the relative merits of a range of policy instruments that are available to tackle global warming.
UNEP Intergovernmental panel on climate change – Fourth Assessment Report 17-11-07
2500 science experts from 130 countries contributed, arguing that climate change is ‘unequivocal’, linked directly to human activity and may bring ‘abrupt and irreversible’ impacts.
The Renewables Advisory Board and Element Energy - The Role of Onsite Energy Generation in Delivering Zero Carbon Homes 21-11-07
Argues that the Government is lagging in its plan for zero-carbon homes, that the capacity of the renewables sector must be built up and that policy could drive a market for onsite renewable worth £2.3 billion a year from 2016.
Kauffman Foundation and Harris Interactive – Survey of youth entrepreneurship survey 13-11-07
Survey of 2,438 U.S. young people aged 8 to 21 shows that four in 10 would like to start their own business. 37% want to invent something if given the opportunity.
Freshminds – SME Survey 16-11-07
Survey of 500 SMEs indicates that 71% believe that PM Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling are bad for UK enterprise. Also argues that SMEs are more preoccupied with government leadership than traditional worries such as business rates.
IPPR report – The Northern Economy in the Next Decade 27-11-07
Argues that the Northern regions should work together to develop a joint plan for the whole of the North, with policies aimed at improving the ‘drivers’ of productivity rather than focusing on measuring the performance gap between regions.
University of Oxford and Sir David King – School of Enterprise and the Environment 29-11-07
Sir David King, the outgoing Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, will become Director of the newly formed School, conducting multidisciplinary research on private solutions to environmental problems.
Proboscis report - Capitalising Creativity: Developing earned income streams in Cultural Industries organisations 19-11-07
Proposes a structure of organisational development which assists non-profit cultural organisations to develop alternative earned income streams from their core intellectual capital.
Events
EMOS and NESTA – Launch of phase two of the Atlas of Ideas - Next people, next places, next science: Beyond the challenge of China and India, London 03-12-07
Speakers include Ian Pearson MP, Lloyd Anderson (British Council), Lorna Casselton (The Royal Society), Stephen Emmott (Microsoft Research Cambridge), Razley Nordin (Organisation of Islamic Conference) and Ana Maria Sampaio Fernandez (Embassy Of Brazil).
Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum - European Innovation and Cluster Conference 11-12-07
Will bring regional and European innovation and technology transfer decision makers and stakeholders together, to exchange methodologies in innovation and cluster management and showcase best practice, with a focus on SMEs.
NESTA public event – Discussion with AnnaLee Saxenian 12-12-07
Dean of the School of Information at UC Berkeley and author of ‘Regional Competitive Advantage’ and ‘The New Argonauts’, will make a keynote address at the launch of three new NESTA publications. Followed by a Q&A, with Charlie Leadbeater as Chair.
International
Indian Government to invest largely on innovation for knowledge leadership 14-11-07
Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology announced that India is sourcing $6bn from the World Bank to support innovators with risk capital.
Next 10 - California Green Innovation Index November 2007
California is now at the forefront of investment in and development of energy efficient technologies. The ‘Golden Triangle’ is more energy efficient and with lower greenhouse gas emissions per capita than Germany, the UK, Japan and the U.S. as a whole
eircom – Launch of Web Innovation Fund 23-11-07
€100,000 annual fund intended to promote, mentor and sponsor innovative web applications in the Irish Internet industry. eircom will work with winners to develop concepts, produce and launch them.