§ 63. Mr. BatisteTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress is being made to develop links between institutes of higher education and industry for the purpose of technology transfer.
Mr. JacksonThis Government attach considerable importance to technology transfer between higher education and industry, both sectorally and geographically, whether on a regional, national or international basis. We are supporting a number of schemes for this purpose. For instance, the Department, together with others, is sponsoring the LINK initiative to develop and accelerate the commercial exploitation of Government-funded research in a range of sectors; a national network of regional technology centres to support technology transfer locally, and the European Community COMETT programme to support it internationally.