It would be interesting to know how much actual use is being made of Konfer, and what kind of success metrics there are, such as number of collaborations and how successful they are and have been.  Connecting companies to universities has always been difficult, especially for small (companies (SMEs), and is a problem that, in my view, has yet to be solved satisfactorily / adequately.

Virtually every university has an enterprise office to connect with industry, yet I still do not hear people saying that it was easy to connect and work with the right experts within one.

Hi Deepak,

As it happens, at almost exactly the moment you posted I was discussing this issue with a former university contact of mine who is now an industry contact of mine (it's not unconnected to your point that they recently decided to leave academia after 20 years). Certainly having better communication paths for finding the right academic research specialists to support industry needs is really useful - historically I've found it very challenging to contact the right people, you're sure there must be someone with a research interest in your field but finding them can be a nightmare. And even the best enterprise office (my local university used to have a fantastic one back when I was managing an R&D department) aren't technical experts, so are very reliant on senior academics being open to pointing them in the right direction. Given inter-departmental rivalry (including perfectly understandable fighting for funding), I've sadly seen  the situation where completely the wrong department takes a project on, as they see no benefit in signposting the enterprise office to the correct team.

Which I guess begs the question of any database being only as good as the data fed into it? 

However, my experience is, as you suggest, that is only the start of the problem - the real challenge is meeting the often completely differing priorities of the industry team and the academic team. (Particularly regarding timescales in my experience!) I have not yet met an academic team that genuinely works like a consultancy: "you give us x thousand pounds, we'll give you y hours of expertise in z timeframe". And fair enough, that's not how universities are (generally) set up. But it is what industry is looking for. It would be so valuable for everyone involved (including the wider world) if we could resolve that one.

An extreme case has come up a couple of times since I moved into consultancy of being approached by universities with the question "would you like to contribute to our research?" And when we've shown an interest - because in principle we do like being involved in original research - the next question they ask is "how much would you be happy to pay us to do it?" We then gently have to explain that's not how this works...that we will contribute our expertise if someone gives us money, not the other way around. The very fact that these approaches have happened more than once is perhaps quite revealing of something or other. 

Thanks,

Andy

Hi Deepak,

As it happens, at almost exactly the moment you posted I was discussing this issue with a former university contact of mine who is now an industry contact of mine (it's not unconnected to your point that they recently decided to leave academia after 20 years). Certainly having better communication paths for finding the right academic research specialists to support industry needs is really useful - historically I've found it very challenging to contact the right people, you're sure there must be someone with a research interest in your field but finding them can be a nightmare. And even the best enterprise office (my local university used to have a fantastic one back when I was managing an R&D department) aren't technical experts, so are very reliant on senior academics being open to pointing them in the right direction. Given inter-departmental rivalry (including perfectly understandable fighting for funding), I've sadly seen  the situation where completely the wrong department takes a project on, as they see no benefit in signposting the enterprise office to the correct team.

Which I guess begs the question of any database being only as good as the data fed into it? 

However, my experience is, as you suggest, that is only the start of the problem - the real challenge is meeting the often completely differing priorities of the industry team and the academic team. (Particularly regarding timescales in my experience!) I have not yet met an academic team that genuinely works like a consultancy: "you give us x thousand pounds, we'll give you y hours of expertise in z timeframe". And fair enough, that's not how universities are (generally) set up. But it is what industry is looking for. It would be so valuable for everyone involved (including the wider world) if we could resolve that one.

An extreme case has come up a couple of times since I moved into consultancy of being approached by universities with the question "would you like to contribute to our research?" And when we've shown an interest - because in principle we do like being involved in original research - the next question they ask is "how much would you be happy to pay us to do it?" We then gently have to explain that's not how this works...that we will contribute our expertise if someone gives us money, not the other way around. The very fact that these approaches have happened more than once is perhaps quite revealing of something or other. 

Thanks,

Andy

Hi Andy,

I feel your pain!

Well said.

Fully agree about the garbage in - garbage out.  What gives me some (small) hope of optimism, is that platforms like Konfer exist that are seeking to solve this problem of fiding the right collaborative university/academic.  hence I am keen on understanding how successful it is / may be.

In my view, the broader problem is not so much how good a database is, or perhaps even how good the research and enterprise office is, but rather the ethos and mindset of universities / academics, who wish and need to bring in research funds ... to support their KPIs, e.g., impact and REF.  Whilst I have no problem with that at all (I used to work in an R&E office), where universities may fall down / short of expectations is that they, in general (and I mean in general) lack some commercial and business experience and expertise.

Apologies that the above is less cohesive than it should be ... but I wished to respond quickly before I got sucked into lots of other (fee-paying!) work.

Hi Andy,

If I can add some thougts on the usefulness of universities to local companies, I tend to approach them on the basis of what the company needs rather than what the university might like. 

Lots more I propose to say on this on the 6th but I see the Konfer and NCUB activities make the channels to universities and other needs of growing companies much easier.

I think the Konfer database may evolve with user needs and if we can encourage  its iuse as a way to start conversations with universities, that will help with any evolution aspects. 

I have found that Konfer academic  researchers catalogued by their main research sector tend to be a too narrow definition and have many extra skills which are likely to be relevant to those searching but are not on view.  I'm wondering if assisted search and some AI techniques may enhance its benefits. However I base this on a few test searches and am not sure how an expert user sees it.

The companies  database on Konfer is much more easily used  and offers many avenues of sector and market research.  I look forward to hearing more on Konfer and how best to use it overall on the 6th.

Rgds

Mark Scibor-Rylski