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 economy244.27 The new landscape for economic development in England is starting to take shape through thesubmission of bids for new Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and the planned centralisationof functions such as innovation. While the details are still to be clarified in the Government’s WhitePaper (imminent at the time of writing), it is important that the role of universities is recognisedand supported within this new infrastructure.4.28 It is clear, then, that higher education research in areas relating to the creative economy isincreasingly multi-disciplinary in its focus. This shift is well aligned with the direction of travel in thecreative industries and their markets, particularly as digital technology continues to blur the dividebetween creativity and science. It is also increasingly important as the application of creativity extendsfurther beyond the creative industries themselves into wider markets such as defence, healthcareand learning.4.29 However, the case study evidence also suggests that much of this activity takes place in spite ofsometimes inflexible faculty structures in universities and the subject-based nature of fundingpolicy and research assessment. That these kinds of barriers persist at a time when there is a clearindustry rationale for multidisciplinary working argues for an approach that is more flexible, andmore sensitive to the needs of the creative economy.4.30 Industry engagement and collaboration was also a common feature of these multidisciplinaryresearch initiatives. New models of industry engagement with research are evolving, particularlywith industry partners involved at the outset in setting research agendas and sharing resources. Thischange is not exclusive to the creative economy; rather, it is a pattern that is reflected in innovationpractice more generally. However, evidence from our research, especially the case studies, suggeststhat the creative industries are at the forefront of this thinking, despite the fact that these activitiesare not always well resourced, and incentives often work against, rather than for, engagementwith the creative economy.4.31 The degree of reliance on funds such as HEIF and the RDA Single Programme budget in England, andenterprise and knowledge exchange funding in the devolved nations, must also be a concern as publicfinance comes under growing pressure. In the CSR, the Government announced plans to review andreform HEIF, and enterprise funding will be significantly reduced. One solution would be to find morecommercially sustainable models through deeper and wider industry engagement. In the creativeeconomy, where companies tend to be small and financially constrained, the key to this may be toaggregate demand in ways that share out the costs while still supporting valuable academic inputto the industry.4.32 Although the investments of the research councils are substantial, an unknown proportion of thiswill be in areas that impact on the creative economy. In fact, given the diverse range of disciplinesthat could contribute to the creative economy, mapping the totality of this activity would be nosmall undertaking.4.33 However, there can be no doubt that investment in creative economy-related research, evenaccounting for the DEP (which arguably extends beyond the creative economy), is dwarfed byinvestment in science. This is reinforced by the recent protection afforded the science budget inthe CSR. Given the importance of the creative industries to the UK’s economic future and the roleof arts and humanities research, particularly within multidisciplinary approaches, this may bean unsustainable position.4.0 Higher education’s contribution
Creating Prosperity: the role of higher educationin driving the UK’s creative economy25p The Human Centred Design Institute at Brunel University is workingwith partners such as MIRA Ltd, TRW Automotive and the Institute ofAdvanced Motorists to design an in-car interface to encourage safe andeco-friendly driving without overloading or distracting the driver. Sucha fine balance can only be achieved through human-centred design.Proposition 2.Higher education is adapting new models of interaction with the creative economy.• Knowledge exchange between higher education and the creative economy is both extensive andvaried in its form, reflecting the diversity of both higher education and the creative industries.• Interaction is more often based on collaboration, consultancy, CPD and access to facilities thanresearch commercialisation, again in line with industry needs.• There are real challenges for higher education in interacting with a fragmented industry base,although universities are finding ways of doing this which deliver benefits to businesses andto the institutions themselves.• Many of these initiatives are supported by funding streams that are now under real pressure.4.34 Research activity on its own is necessary but not sufficient for industry growth. It is the applicationof research outputs that will drive the impacts of higher education research activity within thecreative economy – the knowledge exchange agenda.4.35 Knowledge exchange activity between higher education and the creative economy is multifaceted andwidespread. It involves all kinds of institutions and disciplines, including Russell Group institutionsand the less research intensive universities (PACEC, 2010).4.36 Knowledge exchange activities in the creative economy do not conform to science-based, linearmodels (as discussed earlier). Instead, activity is typically more focused on collaboration, consultancy,CPD and enterprise development than contract research, prototyping or joint research. As a result,traditional measures such as patents, licences and university spin-outs have less relevance, yetthese measures still carry some weight for universities and funding bodies.4.37 The creative industries are also strongly focused on the creation and subsequent exploitation ofintellectual property (IP), an issue that can be a barrier to successful research collaboration. Notonly can contractual negotiations over intellectual property ownership create delays in the researchprocess, but there is a reported tendency for higher education to over-value its intellectual property.4.0 Higher education’s contribution
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