Building industrial engagement and impact
Latest update
Over the past 18 months, significant effort has been dedicated to establishing foundational policies, processes, and staffing, including developing robust HEBCIS data reporting, establishing a CRM, recruiting new business development staff and BIEI fellows, commercial costing and pricing policies, a due diligence process, the PACE fund, and a consultancy policy. These activities aim to generate additional income and measure success through increased joint industry activity, demonstrable benefits to partners, leading to impact generation from our research expertise, higher university income from industry, improved gross margins on income and growth in key strategic industry partnerships with repeated interactions.
Six growth areas were identified to generate new income streams through knowledge exchange:
- Collaborative Research Grants
- Consultancy
- Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
- Contract Research
- Facilities and Equipment
- Other Commercial Income (eg licencing or royalties)
The BIEI initiative has now transitioned to business as usual, following the completion of most new appointments and the establishment of effective frameworks and policies to support external engagement, enabling more effective support and accurate measurement of success metrics.
The priorities for this year are to:
- Enhance Business Development by refining toolkits, expanding the team, and recruiting new staff to increase industry outreach and collaboration opportunities.
- Formalise and promote new policies, specifically the Commercial Costing and Pricing policy and the Consultancy policy to standardise processes, improve financial management, and provide clear IP guidelines.
- Develop the Practice-Based Academic Job Family, starting with the Professor of Practice job description to recognise and support industry-engaged academics and attract and retain experienced talent.
- Strengthen the profile of York’s expertise and opportunities for Business Development through strategic external events and networks to increase sector awareness, provide more opportunities for academic staff at industry events, and increase business.
- Strengthen BIEI Fellows' Activities, focusing on commercial income generation and establishing a biennial conference to increase industry-related income.
- Target growth areas such as Agriculture, Biotechnology, Rail, Creative Technologies, and Environmental Sustainability to increase partnerships and projects in key sectors, driving income and impact.
- Expand CRM System rollout to relevant teams and academics to improve tracking and management of industry partnerships, leading to better data-driven decisions.
- Improve our utilisation of HEBCIS Data for tracking changes and informing strategic decisions for data-driven progress tracking and identification of improvement areas.
- Identify large-scale income generation opportunities to increase commercial income and coordinated institutional engagement.
Other initiatives
Find out more about the other transformational initiatives that will help turn strategy into action.
