Submission by University Advisory Group Phase 1 – The role of the universities

The lack of business connection with the universities is partly because the latter develop knowledge that is often at too early a stage for use by the business sector, or because the knowledge is not transformed into commercially exploitable intellectual property (IP) that can be used to create goods and services that are potentially valuable in the marketplace. [...] A number of our members have also remarked to us that the university technology transfer / commercialisation offices can impede the development of relationships between businesses and academics that have the potential to result in the creation of IP with commercial potential. [...] The former is not valuable at all unless the latter happens and the clock starts ticking on the duration of the IP the minute the patent is approved. [...] However, we suspect that our concerns about the contribution of the sector would be more easily addressed by changing the way the universities operate than by changing the form of the sector. [...] In terms of the structure of the sector, there might be more to be gained from ensuring the sector works more collaboratively and efficiently, than from simply reducing the number of universities.