The University of Liverpool has been awarded £3.5 million to improve knowledge transfer capabilities between academic researchers and industrial partners.
The funding, from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, will be used to create a Knowledge Exploitation Laboratory. The initiative will accelerate the transfer of research into industry, exploiting £43 million of EPSRC-funded research at the University in the fields of Molecular Engineering, Advanced Manufacturing, and Sensors and Monitoring.
The Laboratory will allow the University's Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Physics and Chemistry departments to share research and expertise with industrial and manufacturing partner organisations. The grant will also provide funding for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, to further staff training and aid the transfer of EPSRC-funded research into businesses, allowing University staff to provide advice and expertise to projects on a flexible and individual basis.
Professor Jon Saunders, Deputy Vice Chancellor, said: "We are delighted to be one of just 12 UK universities to have been awarded this funding, which highlights the excellence of research at Liverpool in the areas of science and engineering.
"The Knowledge Exploitation Laboratory will combine a variety of technologies and bring together technology users, academics and technology suppliers to accelerate knowledge exchange with industry."
The laboratory will be funded under the EPSRC's Knowledge Transfer Accounts programme and is expected to be open to industrial collaboration from autumn 2009.
Notes to editors:
1. The University of Liverpool's Business Gateway provides a link between cutting-edge research, knowledge and expertise at the University and commercial, industrial and public sector organisations.
2. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK's main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. The EPSRC invests more than £740 million a year in research and postgraduate training, to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. www.epsrc.ac.uk
3. The University of Liverpool is a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive institutions in the UK. It attracts collaborative and contract research commissions from a wide range of national and international organisations valued at more than £93 million annually.
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