Sheffield

Eight UK universities are to set up ‘centres of enterprise’ to exploit their research and transfer ideas to the private sector. Steven Byers, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, announced the news last week at the British Association for the Advancement of Science's annual Festival of Science.

One of the responsibilities of the centres, costing a total of £25 million ($40.5 million), will be to incorporate the teaching of enterprise into the universities' curricula, equipping scientists and engineers with entrepreneurial skills. The government hopes the centres will play a key role in regional development, and wants them to link up with local companies.

Byers also announced the extension of the network of Faraday Partnerships, which aim to link science and business in specific areas of technology by bringing together consortia of independent research organizations, universities, businesses and financiers. Four new partnerships, with a budget of £8.8 million, were announced. Consortia are invited to propose new topics in their bids. “We want your ideas, we want to see partnerships strengthening industry clusters in their localities,” said Byers.

Byers announced additional funding for the four existing Faraday Partnerships. He said this was because the previous government had underfunded the centres, and added that the extra support would allow them to restructure their ‘industry-facing’ activities.