Title | Knowledge transfer from research activity in universities. |
National Indicator/Target | Improve knowledge transfer from research activity in universities. |
Brief Description | This indicator will measure the knowledge exchange taking place between the Scottish Higher Education sector and the wider business and public sector. The indicator will capture a range of knowledge transfer activities ranging from the commercialisation of new research to delivery of professional training, consultancy and services. |
Strategic Objective(s) to Which Indicator Relates | This indicator will inform progress in relation to the Smarter Strategic Objective. Knowledge transfer activities help universities to both expand their work with business and to develop more business relevant research. The indicator also links to Indicator 1 on Gross expenditure on R&D, and supports the Wealthier and Fairer strategic objective. Knowledge transfer activity helps Scottish based firms to improve their productivity and competitiveness through the use of the knowledge, skills and technology held by Scotland's Higher Education sector. |
More Detailed Definitions |
Definitions of Keywords | The measure for this indicator will be developed in the coming months (see below); the definitions of keywords/denominators will be provided after this process. The Scottish Funding Council currently collects, and weights together, a number of knowledge transfer ( KT) metrics to assist with the distribution of its Knowledge Transfer Grant. The Funding Council will be reviewing its KT measure over the next 6-8 months as part of a more general evaluation of its Knowledge Transfer Grant. The Scottish Government will work with the Funding Council during this period to develop an appropriate national measure of knowledge transfer. This will be used to monitor this target. |
Evidence Source | Data for this indicator will be based on information collected directly from Higher Education Institutions via the Scottish Funding Council's Knowledge Transfer Grant metrics collection. This may be supplemented with information collected from Higher Education Institutions through the 'Higher Education-Business Community Interaction Survey', run by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The indicator will be based on information for a range of knowledge transfer activities combined through an agreed weighting process. The exact data, units of measurement and weightings will be detailed once the indicator measure has been fully developed. |
Baseline and Past Trends | The measure for this indicator will be developed in the coming months; therefore baseline data is not available at present. Data on individual aspects of knowledge transfer are currently collected by the Scottish Funding Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. It may be possible to derive a baseline figure and past trends for this indicator from existing information, once the exact measure has been defined. If this is not possible, the first baseline data for this indicator will be collected in 2008 and will relate to the academic year 2007/08. |
Methodology | The measure for this indicator will be a weighted measure, which weights together a number of knowledge transfer metrics for Scottish Higher Education Institutions. Once the measure for this indicator is defined, the technical note will be updated to record the exact metrics and weights being used, along with an example calculation. This measure will be based on a census of Scottish HEIs, and is unlikely to be subject to revisions. |
Data Ownership and Quality Assurance | This indicator is likely to be based on information collected by the Scottish Funding Council and possibly supplemented with information collected by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Neither of the current knowledge transfer data collections undertaken by the above are National Statistics. Once the measure for this indicator is defined, the Scottish Government will discuss with the data owners progress towards National Statistics status. |
Publication of Data | Both the Scottish Funding Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England publish their knowledge transfer data annually: http://www.sfc.ac.uk/information/info_funding.htm http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2007/07_17/ Once the measure for this indicator is defined, the Scottish Government will agree an annual publication process with the data owners. |