§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the value and effectiveness of knowledge transfer initiatives sponsored by her Department. [38521]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 28 February 2002]: The Department for Education and Skills, in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry, supports knowledge transfer through projects in higher education funded under the Higher Education Innovation Fund, which incorporates the earlier Higher Education Reach-Out to Business and the Community Fund. Many of the projects funded under these initiatives introduced new organisational and structural arrangements intended to lead to systematic and sustainable improvements in relationships between higher education institutions and business. As the earliest 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.