Local Universities as a Resource for Local SMEs

Abstract

This paper reports on the preliminary findings of an innovative project based in the counties of Devon and Cornwall in the far south-west of the UK. The project's objectives are to achieve technology transfer between local universities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to develop the local universities as a resource for the region. The aim of the associated research is to collect experiences from the project and evaluate them against a number of best practices for technology transfer. At this stage the main conclusions are: (1) SMEs require technology capable of rapid commercial exploitation; (2) clustering of technology transfer to SMEs is very difficult to achieve; (3) the intellectual property position must be made clear from the start; (4) it is difficult to interest SMEs in a project such as this; and (5) only a very small number of academics are interested in developing products from their research.