News

Durham University welcomes government funding for knowledge transfer

(15 June 2004)

The University of Durham has been awarded nearly £2.5M of government funding to further enhance its knowledge transfer work.

The injection of funding from the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) has been welcomed by Durham allowing the University to continue and further expand a range of knowledge transfer activities.

£2.09M of the financial support has been awarded for projects in technology transfer, business collaboration and community regeneration. Specific schemes include the establishment of a consultancy company to manage collaborations with businesses, continuation of the intellectual property rights commercialisation strand of the Science Enterprise Centre, and the support for key community developments particularly in Tees Valley.

Further financial backing was awarded to the region as a whole for collaborative work between the North East universities including Durham. This will build the capacity and support the further expansion of the region’s Knowledge House, a university consultancy scheme for business. It will also support the work of Durham University’s Digital Enterprise Technology Group which harnesses latest developments in computer modelling, graphics and information management to give the automotive industry important new insights into product development, risk reduction and improved responsiveness to customers. This Group will soon be expanding its operations to NetPark, the science and technology park in Sedgefield.

Vice-Chancellor Sir Kenneth Calman said: “This funding is an excellent boost to the work we carry out in the area of knowledge transfer, and will help us to support the North East’s ambitions to expand its knowledge-based economy. It will enable us to make further links between our academic research and the wider community including enhancing and expanding efforts already made in regional outreach and regeneration, consultancy and commercialisation of research.”

Notes to Editors

The Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) is part of the Government’s strategy to increase prosperity and provide high quality job opportunities. A total of 124 awards, worth over £185 million over the next two years, have been made under the second round of funding for the HEIF.

For media enquiries, please contact Dionne Hamil, Public Relations Officer, University of Durham on 0191 334 6078

15 June 2004