FIRM presents 'Innovation at MediaCityUK, Salford' on Wednesday 16 November as part of the Digital Economy All Hands Conference 2011.
To register for Workshops please click here, all attendees must be already registered to attend the conference, click here for details.
Innovation at MediaCity UK, Salford
Wednesday 16 November, 12:45
The FIRM Partners will deliver a presentation on key areas of the FIRM portfolio and highlight the value to investors, R&D partners for creativity, and the social and public communities of the Northwest, in particular. The portfolio includes:
- Transformative projects. FIRM has research teams at the University of Salford, Lancaster University and Goldsmiths, University of London, plus connections to many SMEs across the Digital and Creative Industries sector and representatives from large Industry players such as the BBC collaborating on research projects.
- Removing IP and other barriers to SMEs. FIRM addresses market failures in relation to SMEs in the Digital and Creative Industries sector: the capacity to carry out research and development; barriers to accessing higher education expertise, and creating an environment for them to work collaboratively with each other and with larger players. The framework developed by FIRM brings potential academic and company ‘gatekeepers’ together in a non-competitive space, providing information, advice and guidance and an appropriate IP framework to take the most promising ideas to market as new technologies, business models, products and services. Ultimately, supporting the Innovation Cycle through idea generation, co-creation and prototyping, and finding routes to market, through the levers of joint activity and access to facilities, expertise and funding.
- Brokerage. In addition to actively sourcing new opportunities, and brokering relationships on an individual level, workshops facilitated by FIRM encourage the cross fertilisation of ideas, assisting in developing proposals for further funding and in the creation of prototypes. Intensive innovation sessions with teams from individual companies take place once collaborative potential is identified, with consultancy provided by academics drawn from the current FIRM partnership and beyond. Additionally, FIRM’s bespoke website has been designed to facilitate engagement and create a network alongside publicising activities.
- Activities to enhance the talent pool. To complement existing curricula programmes FIRM’s mission is to engage individuals of many ages directly in R&D activities as staff, apprentices and interns. An expected outcome of SME engagement will be to raise the SME partner’s absorptive capacity for research, to a level where they see the value in joint contribution through full Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTPs).
