Conference aims to improve industrial-academic relationships

The conference will look at existing collaborations and focus on the best ways to increase the benefits to all partners. This will include perspectives on the ‘letter-of-consent’ approach and alternative means to form effective partnerships within an open innovation environment.

“The traditional approach to academic-industrial partnerships is for the academic to ask a company to write a letter supporting a grant proposal and then for both to quietly forget about each other until it was time to write the next grant proposal. This event will look at successful industrial-academic partnerships and discuss possibilities to aid greater collaboration,” commented Marc Bailey of Nokia Research Centre and Cambridge Wireless SIG Champion.

With the traditional letter-of-support method into academic-industrial partnerships proving to be less than efficient, Cambridge Wireless will present an impressive line-up of speakers to evaluate the many alternative approaches to building and maintaining these relationships, which have emerged during the last decade.

Figureheads from Cambridge’s prolific academic scene, such as Professor Andy Hopper, Daping Chu of the Centre of Advanced Photonics and Electronics, and Julian Peck of Cambridge Enterprise will evaluate what works, what doesn’t and how can it be improved.  To join this half-day event to discuss how these approaches have evolved and what this means for future partnerships, please visit the Cambridge Wireless event web page. As well as the day’s hot topics, there will be ample networking opportunities and lively discussions. This event is followed by Cambridge Wireless’ honoured Founders’  Dinner on site at Newnham College, to which delegates of the event will be invited to attend the pre-dinner drinks reception.