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College News
Date: 23 June 2004
Royal Holloway wins largest collaborative bid to develop links with industry |
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Royal Holloway, University of London is one of seven partner institutions to jointly launch a major new regional business and community innovation programme, WestFocus, which is the largest collaborative bid for the Government's new Knowledge Exchanges. WestFocus is a £23 million programme designed to stimulate economic growth in West London and the South East. Funding has been awarded by the second round of the Government's Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF2) in a joint initiative with HEFCE and the Office of Science and Technology. |
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| The awards have been made to support universities' collaboration with business and community partners, enabling them to respond more effectively to the needs of industry, public services and the wider community via the transfer of knowledge. |
Steven Wilson, Director of Research and Enterprise, Royal Holloway, University of London |
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In total £186 million over the next two years has been allocated under HEIF2 for the promotion of networking between universities and businesses, the development of an infrastructure to transfer knowledge from academics into industry and the community, the contribution of specialised knowledge into regeneration programmes, and a network of 22 centres for knowledge exchange activity. WestFocus is one of the largest programmes of its type in England and Wales.
The WestFocus consortium comprises: Royal Holloway, University of London; Brunel University; Kingston University; Roehampton University of Surrey; University of Westminster; Thames Valley University and St George's Hospital Medical School. WestFocus will concentrate on five key areas: Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge and Business Development Networks (KBDN) Partnership in Accessible Research (PARK), Entrepreneurship Centre and University Talent. The integrated programme will bring together a base of 3,500 academics and 50 enterprise staff.
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Enterprise
Directors |
As part of the overall HEIF2 funding, Royal Holloway was also awarded an additional £700,000 to extend and improve the College's engagement with industry, and a further £1.4 million, jointly with six London universities, for The London Centre for Arts and Cultural Enterprise (LCACE), extending their work with the arts and cultural sector.
Steven Wilson, Director of Research and Enterprise at Royal Holloway, says: "This is a significant opportunity to develop further our existing strong links with business and the local community, and to increase our capacity to contribute to the generation of wealth in what is one of the UK's most dynamic economic regions. I am delighted that Royal Holloway has fared so well in these fiercely competitive awards."
ENDS
Notes for editors
The LCACE partners are: Royal Holloway, University of London; Birkbeck College: Kings College, London; Courtauld Institute of Art; City University; Goldsmith College, University of London; Queen Mary, University of London.
Further information and
hi-res images contact the Press Office:
Christine Long, Press & PR Officer
01784 443967, christine.long@rhul.ac.uk
Vicky Cousins, Assistant Press & Communications Officer
01784 414480, victoria.cousins@rhul.ac.uk
