Tekiu Limited and Scientific Knowledge Services (SKS) have come together to offer international exchanges on science and innovation, including Open Science and on translation of research into innovations. We will bring together academic and industrial partners to learn from each other’s good practices, policies, regulations, and initiatives that take research forward to develop new products, services, or interventions that benefit society. We pay special attention to the transfer of knowledge from research organisations to the broader society.
There is a strong need and desire in Europe for international collaboration and exchange coupled with a sharing of research outputs. As noted in the EC report Open Innovation, Open Science, Open to the World – a vision for Europe, collaborations with international partners represent important sources of knowledge circulation. The globalisation of research and innovation, as well as the rapid advancement of digital technologies, have helped to promote Europe’s competitive edge in global knowledge markets in the information age. According to the findings of DG Research’s report Validation of the results of the public consultation on ‘Science 2.0’, lack of awareness of Open Science is seen as an issue for realising these and other benefits of globalisation of research such as transparency in funding decisions. This report also notes that the “majority of respondents saw a need for policy intervention in this area, and they emphasised the importance of enabling the research community to drive change”.
Facilitated face-to-face exchanges and site visits complement digital exchanges in the cultivation of new- and strengthening of existing relationships that can catalyse and mobilise productive and meaningful transformation and innovation.
In their Views from the Discovery Nation, the Medicines Discovery Catapult highlights that, as a movement which supports increased rigour, accountability and reproducibility of research, Open Science is one of the ways to improve the translation of biomedical science towards clinical trial success.
Discovery Trips are high-quality technical and fact-finding visits that promote international benchmarking and exchange. These Discovery Trips on innovation policy and research translation aim to create fora for exchange on good practice, policies, regulations and lessons learned across borders between high-level decision-makers at research institutes and translations offices. We also explore Open Science as enablers of these translations.
We are currently rolling out a Discovery Trip to the UK. In this 2-3 day trip delegates will meet with leaders in world-class institutes to learn from and discuss with their counterparts and key players in the translation of research ecosystem.
The trip will offer an opportunity to gain new insight and perspective into innovation policy, research translation approaches, and Open Science. Delegates will learn from and discuss with leaders salient issues such as balancing the needs of university researchers to publish with the needs of industry to protect innovations; fostering a healthy start-up environment; early engagement with industry, so that translational research results in innovative and valued products and services; creation and maintenance of R&D infrastructure and support services; and support for Open Research and the possibilities of Big Data, to name a few. Through these engagements and interactions both delegates and hosts will have the opportunity to create new frameworks for international collaborations.
These three-way exchanges will facilitate a face-to-face environment to
In this podcast, Adam Stoten, COO at Oxford University Innovation, shares how Oxford University Innovation (OUI) supports translation of research, including highlights of success stories and recent initiatives and ways they stimulate better understanding between industry and OUI. He also sheds light on metrics employed to measure Tech Transfer and whether there is any conflict between Open Science and successful translation of research. This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
In this podcast Graham Hillier, Director of Strategy and Futures, Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) shares his experience facilitating translation of research within CPI, Nexus (Leeds University translation of research organisation), Maxwell (Cambridge University department for industrial engagement with the physical science and engineering), and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
A technical visit is tailored to the needs of delegates through needs assessment. However, UK hosts during a Discovery Trip can include:
Research translation offices: UCL’s Translation Research Office; King’s Health Partners (KHP), who facilitate collaboration between King’s College London and National Health Services (NHS) Foundation Trusts; Innovation and Translation Centre at King’s College London; Translation team at the Francis Crick Institute their Library and Information Services; Cancer Research UK; Wellcome Trust Innovation team; Oxford University Translational Research Office within the Medical Sciences Division; Birmingham University Institute of Translational Medicine; Office for Translational Research (OTR) School of Clinical Medicine at Cambridge University; Imperial Innovations, who work with Imperial College London staff to license technology they have developed to a wide range of businesses; Cambridge Enterprise, who provide support with technology transfer and seed funds, etc.
Not-for-profit organisations and associations: Medicines Discovery Catapult; Confederation of British Industries; Federation of Small Businesses; Centre for Process Innovation at the Bioindustry Association; etc.
Public-Private partnerships: Structural Genomics Consortium and their Open Lab Notebooks initiative; the United Kingdom Science Park Association; Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, a joint venture between the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, GlaxoSmithKline, Wellcome and Innovate UK.
Tekiu organises high-quality technical and fact-finding visits in various sectors including research and innovation systems, technology and science, social policy. We call these visits Discovery Trips because they create the circumstances for people to discover something new, with an emphasis on international and interdisciplinary knowledge exchange. We are in the business of knowledge transfer, international benchmarking, and business partnering. We drive forward organisational thinking and help participants to break free from professional and market silos. Working closely with our clients, we prepare bespoke experiences based on the client’s input and needs analysis collected at our pre-trip workshop or through closely working with a project manager designated by the client; it is important to us that we deliver something that is uniquely suited to our client’s situation.
Tekiu’s Discovery Trips have connected innovative countries such as the UK, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands, and Turkey. With an eye to the global context, we work iteratively with our clients, responding to their needs to deliver a program beyond their borders and expectations.
Scientific Knowledge Services is a Swiss-registered company that started to facilitate access to scientific content in 2011 and, in collaboration with UCL Press, a series of advocacy events and schooling in Open Science. We believe that the research organisations should balance between finding new knowledge about nature and society and finding meanings to that knowledge. Open Science is one good way to accelerate both and to lay the foundation for new, global collaborations. Discovery Trips represent an efficient way to deliver that and to build a level of reciprocity that is nurturing a global scientific community
Currently, Scientific Knowledge Services operates in continental Europe with staff present in Munich, Prague, Budapest, Zagreb and Sofia. However, the administrative borders between countries are not driving our ambitions to bring science closer to the broader society.
