Science, Universities and Rebalancing the UK Economy: A Provocation   

Professor John Goddard suggests how targeted R&D spending in universities could help rebalance the UK economy regionally.  R&D Spending and the ‘levelling up’ agenda The Conservative Party’s election manifesto pledged to spend £22bn per annum on research by 2024-25. Many argued that this could only be justified if the research system moves towards supporting the … Continue reading “Science, Universities and Rebalancing the UK Economy: A Provocation   “

Combining Growth and Levelling Up in UK Regions: How Universities and the Social Sciences Can Help

In this piece, Professor Simon Collinson describes the crucial roles to be played by city-regions and by universities if we are going to level up effectively. This article was first posted on the Academy of Social Sciences website.  Over the next few years, the UK faces further challenges which, like the economic impacts of Covid, … Continue reading “Combining Growth and Levelling Up in UK Regions: How Universities and the Social Sciences Can Help”

The Regional Economic Contribution of Student Expenditure: Implications for Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this blog, Tasos Kitsos discusses his recent publication “Universities, students and regional economies: a symbiotic relationship?” with André Carrascal-Incera and Diana Gutiérrez-Posada. This research is part of the City-REDI project “The Impact of Universities on Regional Economies“.  What is the economic contribution of students in the regions they study? What is the impact of … Continue reading “The Regional Economic Contribution of Student Expenditure: Implications for Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic”

Business Support: Referrals to Regional Universities by the GBSLEP Growth Hub

In this blog, Freya Williams, Alice Pugh and Juliane Schwarz examine the referral of businesses by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) Growth Hub to universities in the West Midlands, including what sectors they come from, the size of businesses and what kind of support they receive.  GBSLEP Growth Hub The Greater … Continue reading “Business Support: Referrals to Regional Universities by the GBSLEP Growth Hub”

Student Knowledge Exchange – Optimising Virtual Delivery to Remove Barriers and Engage Communities 

Terry Dray, Sue Welland, and Hannes Read look at how Keele University and the University of Birmingham are re-imagining experiential learning, industry placements, and student knowledge exchange.  Even though our project was initiated before the pandemic began, our new virtual approach to re-imagining experiential learning, placements, and student knowledge exchange came into its own when the pandemic started. We detail the aims and methods of how we have started to break down barriers to … Continue reading “Student Knowledge Exchange – Optimising Virtual Delivery to Remove Barriers and Engage Communities “

University Incubators as Part of a Wider Regional Innovation System

Dr Juliane Schwarz looks at the differences between incubators and accelerators, how they support fledgling businesses to grow, and the role universities can play in this process. This blog is an introduction to the WM REDI project “University Incubator: Comparative Analysis, Pathways to Impact and Relative Regional Effects“. The project investigates university incubators and, as … Continue reading “University Incubators as Part of a Wider Regional Innovation System”

University-Industry Relationships and Spill-over Effects in the West Midlands: The Case of the ARLI Collaborative Research Project

Dr Juliane Schwarz discusses the role initiatives can play in transferring knowledge from Universities to Industry, looking specifically at the ARLI programme.    This blog is an introduction to the WMREDI project “University-Industry Relationships and Spillover Effects”. The project aims to increase our understanding of university knowledge commercialisation pathways building on existing research in the … Continue reading “University-Industry Relationships and Spill-over Effects in the West Midlands: The Case of the ARLI Collaborative Research Project”