Creating Prosperity: the role of higher education in ... - Universities UK

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Creating Prosperity: the role of higher educationin driving the UK’s creative economy203. CASE STUDYSerious Games Institute,Coventry UniversityThe Serious Games Institute (SGI) wasestablished in 2007, and combines specialistapplied research with business incubation,support and training in a dedicated buildingon campus.Research at SGI is multidisciplinary andindustry partnerships are strong. Theresearch team draws expertise from facultiesacross the university (for example psychology,computing science, creative arts) and isable to do so by not being aligned to anyone faculty.There is a strong strand within the researchprogramme that is focused on demonstratingthe educational potential of games-basedlearning. Companies report this to be ofparticular importance in helping to convincepotential clients of the value and effectivenessof their products as learning tools. In thisrespect, the research work at SGI is helpingto develop the market for serious games.For businesses located in the Institute,ongoing and informal contact with researchersis a source of added value and differentiatesthe SGI from other business incubators.The SGI has also been able to facilitateintroductions to international companies onbehalf of their SME clients by virtue of theInstitute’s international reputation as an earlymover in the serious games sector.Despite this success, ongoing revenue costsare a challenge. SGI’s research income ismodest compared to the costs of running theInstitute and its business-facing activitiesgenerate insufficient income to address thisshortfall, operating as it does in an embryonicmarket segment.q‘One of the standout examples of real business value that PIXELearning derived from our association with theSerious Games Institute was being connected, by them, to HP in Geneva with whom we secured a £100,000 project.This came about purely because of the awareness-raising activities that the SGI team carried out and we wouldnever have made the connection ourselves.’Kevin Corti, CEO and Development Director, SOSHI Games4.18 Others have taken a different approach. For example, the Human Centred Design Institute at BrunelUniversity identified multidisciplinary provision as strategically important – industry problemsdemand multiple perspectives – and made a commitment to work in this way. This has meantapportioning research income equally across schools and faculties, an approach that is now beingdiscussed by other design schools.4.19 In the case of the Smart Clothes and Wearable Technologies Research Centre at the University ofWales, Newport, the university has sought to structure a multi-partner initiative working not onlyacross different departments but also with other universities and a range of industry partners.Although it is still in its infancy, the Centre is pioneering a new way of working within the universityand is doing so not by establishing a new facility or structure but simply by bringing togetherdifferent disciplines as a way of bringing down these barriers.4.0 Higher education’s contribution
Creating Prosperity: the role of higher educationin driving the UK’s creative economy21p University of Wales, Newport’s Ryder Cup fashion show saw thewinning designer picking up a coveted prize of work experience withtop designer Paul Costello, demonstrating the strong link betweenthe course and industry.4. CASE STUDYSmart Clothes and Wearable TechnologyResearch CentreSCWTRC at the University of Wales, Newportis a multidisciplinary group working at theintersection between industry and academia.Informed by advances in the applicationof technical textiles, micro-technologiesand new manufacturing techniques, theteam is developing a shared languagethrough collaboration in the research anddevelopment of innovative smart clothing thataddresses end-user needs from technical,aesthetic and cultural viewpoints. Theteam at the University of Wales, Newport iscollaborating across internal departmentsand disciplines, and with co-investigatorsfrom the University of Westminster, theUniversity of Salford, the University ofUlster and the University of Brighton, andwith a wide range of industry partnersand trade networks which make up theirAdvisory Group.The Centre was initially funded by the HigherEducation Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW)and has since been successful in attractingmajor research funding as well as a largenumber of smaller grants and awards duringits life.SCWT has successfully integrated CPD,knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs),academic research publications, symposiaand conferences with a functional industry/academia network and provided staff forindustry placement. Its outputs are bothacademic and practical, with an ambitionto move towards production of wearableprototypes for industry. It has also housedthe development of an MA/MFA in the fieldin response to industry requests.4.0 Higher education’s contribution
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