Applied Knowledge Exchange

Santander UK today launched its new funding programme for fast growing companies.

A loan pot of £200m is being made available across the UK as part of the Breakthrough initiative, which is aimed at supporting the SME market through a range of activities including investing in SMEs, together with a number of other initiatives including University courses, research and development and trade missions.

GCU is a member of the prestigious international Santander Universities network, which brings together almost 1,000 universities, throughout Spain, Portugal, Latin America and the UK. This strategic partnership between the University and Santander has created a range of opportunities for both staff and students to participate in a range of activities and to encourage exchange and interaction between members of GCU and other member universities of the Santander Universities network. Each year Santander sponsors one of the University’s annual Magnusson Awards, which provide a one off grant of up to £5,000.

For more information, contact the Applied Knowledge Exchange on 0141 331 3189 or appliedknowledgeexchange@gcu.ac.uk

In this video produced by Universities Scotland, university graduates as well as prominent voices from business and society such as Jim McColl, Peter Lederer and Heather Reid talk about how they have already worked with universities to achieve their diverse ambitions whether it is improving the competitiveness of their business or inspiring the next generation of school children to become excited about science.

Take a look at: http://www.universities-scotland.ac.uk/index.php?page=our-contribution

Hundreds of people with dementia have spend the day at Hampden Park as part of the football reminiscence project. 

The project is part of ongoing research by Glasgow Caledonian University.

Click on the link to view the short video http://news.stv.tv/scotland/280005-dementia-patients-benefit-from-football-memories/ (please note that the video will start after the short advert is played).

Glasgow Caledonian University’s Applied Knowledge Exchange has published the Winter edition of Exchange magazine.

The magazine focuses on recent business and knowledge transfer activity at GCU. This edition contains details of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and our work with the energy sector, food and drink companies and our Business Academies with companies.

For more information, please take a look inside the magazine.

An interesting article in the FT on the difficulties in measuring academic impact

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/0ef2fb1e-e400-11e0-bc4e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Zp40mrvt

Glasgow Caledonian University’s Applied Knowledge Exchange attended this week’s Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen, meeting with partners including FMC Technologies and networking with the industry.

During a first day session analysing the Operating Models for the Future, panelists including Oil and Gas UK Chief Executive Malcolm Webb said there were potentially large untapped ‘unconventional’ oil and gas reserves which required investment from the industry and a skilled, international supply chain.

Bob Keiller, CEO of Wood Group PSN, detailed the pros and cons of contracting out operations. He insisted it was important to be an ‘informed buyer’, keeping a close eye on contractor relationships through effective project management.

Global oil and gas solutions provider FMC Technologies is working with GCU to deliver a pioneering five-year research and development collaboration within the subsea oil and gas industry which includes KTPs, PhD studentships and research and development projects to identify new opportunities for safe and efficient oil recovery and to enhance reliability and integrity in the monitoring of subsea installations.

FMC Technologies is to create 240 new research and development and manufacturing jobs in Scotland, many located at its site in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire.

The expansion is being supported with £2.5m in Scottish government grants.

Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing said: “This decision is testament to the quality and skills of our workforce in engineering and manufacturing. Scotland’s experience in subsea engineering, drilling and fabrication has seen many companies become vital players throughout the world.”

FMC has an R&D partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University – for details, click here.

GCU has received a valuable addition to its archives, with the donation of the Social Enterprise Collection (Scotland) by John Pearce, one of the UK’s founding figures in social enterprise, following his retirement.

The papers and documents on Community Development, Community Enterprise, Social Enterprise and Social Accounting and Audit were accumulated over the course of John’s 35 year career. They are joined by the Community Business Scotland archive of papers and reports from 1981 onwards.

John Pearce said: “I am very pleased that the university has decided to establish a Social Enterprise Collection and that I have been able to donate my accumulation of papers, books and reports to get it started.”

John Pearce played a pivotal role at the heart of Scotland’s community and social enterprise movements, and his work has had a global impact. Click here for more information about the Collection.

The Social Enterprise Collection (Scotland) builds on GCU’s ongoing commitment to social enterprise, through Scotland’s first MSc in Social Enterprise, developed with the Social Enterprise Academy. This is a result of GCU’s recognition that social enterprises are a growing sector of profitable businesses, and agents for positive change defined by their social and environmental missions.

For more information about how we work with Social Enterprises and the third sector, click here.

In tough times, businesses and public sector organisations should take a more collaborative approach to working – that was the theme running through the Scottish Enterprise networking event this week in Glasgow.

Keynote speaker Raymond O’Hare, Chairman of the Institute of Directors in Scotland, told delegates people can be sceptical when they hear the word ‘collaboration’ but that it was a ‘practical necessity’ for business survival.

He outlined 5 types of collaboration: Corporate Business Partner Programmes; Small Organisations Learning from Large; Informal Collaboration Agreements; Formal Collaboration Agreements; and Influencer Collaboration.

Other speakers included Virginia Sumsion, marketing manager at Loch Fyne Oysters, who spoke about her Argyll food producers co-operative which sells food and drink products at events under the Food from Argyll banner.

For more information on collaborating with Glasgow Caledonian University, go to www.gcu.ac.uk/business

ScottishPower has recently submitted proposals to the energy regulator Ofgem outlining £3bn of planned investments on its high voltage transmission electricity network in Scotland over the next 10 years.  Projects will include the connection of up to 5GW of renewable energy, helping Scotland to achieve its 2020 carbon reduction targets, and extensive upgrades to the electricity grid links between England and Scotland.

GCU has a number of energy experts working with power suppliers. For more information, click here.

The full announcement.