HC Deb 04 March 2002 vol 381 c4W
Mr. Hoban

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the value and effectiveness of regional knowledge transfer initiatives. [38520]

Ms Hewitt

[holding answer 28 February 2002]: My Department sponsors a number of targeted programmes which seek to help business access and use knowledge gained from research in British and overseas universities and research and technology organisations. We also provide support to help the science base grow its capability to interact with business and realise the business opportunities offered by science. For example, the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), which incorporates the earlier Higher Education Reach-Out to Business and the Community Fund (HEROBC), has incorporated a regional assessment alongside other criteria.

As the earliest HEROBC projects have only been running for just over two years it is still too soon for full evaluation. Early indications suggest that these initiatives are helping to improve the capacity of higher education institutions to carry out knowledge transfer.

Mr. Hoban

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the value and effectiveness of knowledge transfer initiatives sponsored by her Department. [38510]

Ms Hewitt

[holding answer 28 February 2002]: My Department sponsors a number of targeted programmes which seek to help business access and use knowledge gained from research in British and overseas universities and research and technology organisations. We also provide support to help the science base grow its capability to interact with business and realise the business opportunities offered by science. Each of these programmes is evaluated on a regular basis and, if necessary, the programme may be amended or terminated if it fails to achieve its targets.

I am presently conducting an intensive review of the totality of business support within DTI which will further ascertain whether there is scope for improving the effectiveness of all our programmes, including those dealing with knowledge transfer. The results to date indicate that business end-users are broadly satisfied with the aims and effectiveness of knowledge transfer programmes but that there is scope for reducing their number to reduce confusion and to increase critical mass of the major programmes.