Knowledge transfer

Knowledge transfer activities are the processes by which knowledge, expertise and skilled people transfer between the research base and its user communities to contribute to economic competitiveness, effectiveness of public services and policy, and quality of life.  The Northern Ireland universities, as the largest practitioners of research in the country, have a particularly important contribution to make to the economy in this respect.

Higher Education Innovation Fund

The Department for Employment and Learning’s primary funding tool for promoting this activity is the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF).  The objective of HEIF is to encourage the higher education sector to increase their capability to respond to the needs of business (including companies of all sizes) and the wider community, with a clear focus on the promotion of wealth creation.  The long term aim of this funding is to improve Northern Ireland’s innovation performance as a key element in raising productivity and delivering economic growth.

HEIF is a joint initiative run by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) and Invest Northern Ireland.  The first round of HEIF was launched in 2004 with approximately £9m allocated to the universities over 3 years via a competitive submission process.

Following an evaluation of HEIF 1, DEL and Invest NI launched a second round of 3 year funding at similar levels to before, but with 80% of the funding now allocated on a metrics/formula basis (administered by DEL) and 20% via competitive bids (administered by Invest NI). This reflects wider UK Government policy which supports the establishment of permanent and predicable funding streams for university-based Knowledge Transfer activities thus allowing HEIs to plan and retain key staff.

Higher and Further Education Collaboration Fund - Connected

The aim of Connected external link is to enable the HE and FE sectors to identify and meet the knowledge transfer needs of businesses and the wider community in a coordinated and holistic fashion.

This pilot programme will run from 2007 to 2010 with a budget of £1 million per annum and will be delivered by Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster, in partnership with the Association of Northern Ireland Colleges.

This funding initiative is the first of its kind in the UK and complements the existing Higher Education Innovation Fund under which the core knowledge transfer or “Third Stream” activities of the Universities are supported.

Collaboration between the FE sector and the universities is firmly grounded in the recommendations of the Regional Innovation Strategy as well as being in keeping with the Department`s Skills Strategy (Success through Skills).Making this three year old programme permanent is also one of the Department`s key commitments under the Programme for Government.

For further information, please visit the Connected web page at www.connected.ni.org external link or contact Martin Fullerton external link (tel: 02890 257 693).