Member Article

Uni-business match-maker celebrates 10th anniversary

An organisation which acts as a ‘match-maker’ between the university sector and the private enterprise and public sectors will celebrate its 10th anniversary this month. Knowledge House is a collaborative venture between the Universities of Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Teesside and the Open University in the North East. It acts as a facilitator between business and academia by matching up the expertise of university academics with the needs of the business community.In the past decade, Knowledge House has handled 4,000 enquiries and set up and managed over 1,000 successful projects that linked regional businesses and entrepreneurs to university experts. Collectively, these ‘knowledge transfer’ projects are worth a total of £7.3 million to the region.Alan Sanderson, regional director of Knowledge House, said: “It has been a fantastic 10 years. The diverse range of contracts we have set up matches the incredible variety of subjects covered in the universities. “Year on year, the figures show positive growth, with business activity increasing by 25% since 2000. Around 20% of the total enquiries from the past ten years have come in the past 12 months, with the current value of orders for the last year exceeding £1.25m.“Knowledge House will mark the milestone with a 10th anniversary dinner at the Gateshead Hilton Hotel on Thursday, June 8. The keynote speaker will be North East entrepreneur Paul Callaghan, chairman of the Leighton Group.The role of Knowledge House as a pioneer in this area has been recognised at the highest levels of Government. Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science and Innovation, commented: “The work that Knowledge House does is really important. It is a role model for other parts of the country.” For more information about Knowledge House, visit: www.knowledgehouse.ac.uk/index.htm.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .