Leicester shortlisted for the Impact Awards 2015
The University has been shortlisted for the 2015 Research Councils UK (RCUK) and PraxisUnico Impact Awards, which recognise and celebrate the vital role knowledge exchange and commercialisation (KEC) professionals play in maximising impact from research.
The shortlisted projects show how UK KEC teams work with their academic colleagues to help turn investments in research into real-life benefits. This includes supporting relationships between businesses and world-leading UK researchers, and helping to remove some of the barriers to business engagement.
The University is in the running to achieve the Contribution to Business award, which recognises the outstanding contribution that knowledge exchange, knowledge transfer and commercialisation activities have had in benefiting a company and/or the economy.
The KEC team established ASDEC – the Advanced Structural Dynamics Evaluation Centre – to provide unique consultancy and analytical services to the automotive, aerospace and space sectors. Since its launch, ASDEC has also worked with businesses in power generation, medical devices and musical instrumentation.
It has made it easier for knowledge exchange to happen, raised the profile of the University as a sector expert, and made working with them more attractive to external businesses. The project was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Higher Education Innovation Funding, Regional Growth Fund (RGF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
There are nine shortlisted entries for three awards: Contribution to Business; Contribution to Society; and Outstanding KEC Initiative, and the winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 15 September 2015. The Overall Winner 2015 will be drawn from winners of the three awards, and will receive up to £50,000 award money to be used to invest in enhancing their KEC activities.