BCE

JISC infoNet (http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/) are delivering 4 events across the UK aimed at managers of core business functions, senior and middle managers with responsibility for development, co-ordination or support of Business and Community Engagement (BCE) related activities.

BCE is an integral part of what Higher Education, Further Education and skills sectors aim to achieve, and links very closely with both ‘Learning and Teaching’ and ‘Research’. These workshops are provided by the JISC BCE Programme (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/bce.aspx) and offer you an opportunity to learn about activities across other institutions and explore methodologies to help you reflect and evaluate on your own institutional practises in this area.

During the event you will:

• Explore the BCE landscape, and share your experiences
• Define the nature of ‘embedded’ regarding BCE within your own organisation
• Gain an understanding of the issues associated with embedding BCE
• Explore a JISC methodology for reviewing and evaluating the extent to which BCE processes and strategy is embedded within the mainstream activities of your institution
• Inspire you to continuously review and improve your internal processes

These FREE events are running in 4 cities across the UK, book a place on one of these today:

Thu 7 June 2012 – Hilton Cardiff http://bit.ly/BCECardiff
Wed 13 June 2012 – Etc Venues, Farringdon, London http://bit.ly/BCELondon
Tue 26 June 2012 – The Lighthouse – Glasgow City Council http://bit.ly/BCEGlasgow
Wed 27 June 2012 – Centre for Life, Newcastle http://bit.ly/BCENewcastle

Sir Tim Wilson’s review of university-business collaboration highlighted that universities and businesses now face new imperatives to collaborate due to the climate of economic austerity and the Government’s reforms to Higher Education funding. HEFCE have endorsed the Review and the sector would do well to heed many of the recommendation and reflections.

The JISC Business and Community Engagement (BCE) programme has been helping institutions and groups within them to make their approaches to BCE more strategic and holistic, harnessing innovative web technologies and effective information management.

Taking relevant recommendations from the Wilson review, this post shows how the JISC BCE Programme has been making an impact in addressing many of the challenges and opportunities the Review emphasised, and provides links to further guidance for institutions on BCE.
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The National Coordinating Centre for Public Enagagement (NCCPE) are pleased to announced that the full Interfacing Research and Impact Systems (IRIS) survey is now available. Please feel to pass on the survey to your colleagues and connections. This is an open survey which aims to gather as many responses as possible.

The survey is primarily aimed at users of research – be that individuals, companies or organisations. and appreciate Responses from Business and Community Engagement practitioners and researchers are also welcome.

Click here to access the survey

The survey will close on Thursday 19th April 2012.

NCCPE intend to use the survey to clarify the connection between academic research and its usefulness for society by finding out how people and organisations find and use research outputs.

The results from this survey will be used to inform research and direct the topic of discussion in an upcoming workshop which will take place on the 24th April at the University of Exeter.

These activities form part of a larger JISC funded project for researcher groups to develop their capability to analyse and articulate the impact and benefits of their work, by working in partnership with FE and HE staff who have expertise in impact analysis and information management.

For more details or to join in the conversation about these projects sign up to the project space

The JISC Business and Community Engagement programme has recently funded 11 projects as a result of the Phase 2 Open Innovation and Access to Resources (OIA2R) call. These build on from the 8 completed projects from Phase 1.

A start-up meeting was held last week at the Centre for Life in Newcastle which provided an excellent opportunity for projects, the OIA2R Support and Synthesis Team and Critical Friends who will be providing guidance to the projects to meet each other. During the day attendees learned more about the projects in both the Open Innovation and Access to Resources Strands, programme expectations and how the Support and Synthesis Team will be assisting projects in knowledge sharing and externally communicating their activities.

The 11 funded projects are:
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As part of the JISC BCE funded ‘Supporting and Enabling CPD for Business and Community Engagement’ development project led by AURIL and JISC, we are preparing for consultation on our next stage developments for the CPD (Continuing Professional Development) Framework and Resource Tool

What?

In 2010 a project team was formed to develop a CPD Framework and on-line Resources Tool for those working in business and employer engagement, public and community engagement, knowledge transfer, knowledge exchange, work-based learning, technology transfer and enterprise. We refer to those working in these areas as Business and Community Engagement (BCE) staff in the project.

We hope the final framework and the tool will be welcomed and used by BCE staff and managers, HR professionals and senior management in HE, FE and Research sectors.

After much fact finding and analysis of need, the Project has reached a critical stage of development; we now need to consult with you to ensure the next stage of the Framework and the design of the proposed Resource Tool is appropriate and useful.

Throughout this nationwide project we have been very careful to ensure that the views of practitioners are reflected in our work. The initial fact finding, the analysis process and the first stage development of the framework have been done using extensive consultation across the BCE landscape.

Many BCE professionals and representative stakeholders have helped throughout the life of the project. You may have helped previously, serving on our groups, giving advice, answering surveys or attending a focus group.

Your input is vital if we are to achieve our goals.

How?

Please join us at one of the events detailed below. We wish to use your knowledge and experience to ensure the framework, the tool and resources are right.

Where, When, How do I Register?

Focus groups are taking place in the following dates and locations. Click on the link next to each date for further venue information and to book your place:

London: Monday 23 April – http://bcecpdlondon.eventbrite.co.uk
Bristol: Tuesday 1 May- http://bcecpdbristol.eventbrite.co.uk
Newcastle: Wednesday 9 May – http://bcecpdnewcastle.eventbrite.co.uk
Edinburgh: Monday 14 May – http://bcecpdedinburgh.eventbrite.co.uk
Manchester: Tuesday 22 May- http://bcecpdmanchester.eventbrite.co.uk
Birmingham: Tuesday 29 May – http://bcecpdbirmingham.eventbrite.co.uk

The links above include information about the venues.

Duration?

We will be operating all the events between 11:00 and 15:00.

Lunch is provided.

What’s going to happen?

The process is as follows:

• You set aside the most convenient date/location and reserve your place using the links above

• We send you papers (a week or so before the event)

• The papers will describe the proposed CPD framework and describe the functions of the resources tool

• At the event we will provide brief details of the project so far

• There will also be a detailed description of the framework and the resources tool which have been developed so far

• We will take some initial feedback from you – and then ask you to discuss your reactions in more detail with other delegates

• We will take feedback notes. There will be a roundup including future plans and a timetable.

The JISC Transformations Programme is aimed at supporting institutions to effect organisational change through the application of existing JISC and other resources. The programme focuses on three key areas*:

• Enhancing the student experience;
• Improving operational efficiency; and
• Enhancing organisational capability for BCE.

Six projects are currently being funded under ‘enhancing organisational capability for BCE’ looking at a range of topics including: strategic partnerships, CRM, virtual business networks, employability and work-based learning. Each project has their own blog where you can keep up-to-date with their latest findings.

• Organisational capability for BCE.
• Towards Universal Leaning in Partnership.
• Virtual Business Engagement Network.
• EFEKT.
• Student Internship Programme.
• Wi4WBL.

The programme runs until 31 July 2013. A second cohort of project proposals are currently being marked with one final opportunity still available for institutions that might want to get involved. If you are interested the deadline for submission is 16 April 2012. See the Transformations blog for further details on this.

If you’re unable to take part you might be interested in some of the JISC resources being trialled.

• The Enterprise Architecture (EA) infoKit and Archi, a tool for developing EA models.
• CRM self-analysis framework and work around service design and blueprinting. The relationship management in UK higher and further education report may also be of interest.
• Collaborative online tools for BCE and techniques for developing online communities of practice. The web2practice resources are also being trialled in this area.
• Strategic BCE and the way in which impact can be measured.
• How to effectively promote research expertise through a range of digital channels.
• Acumen which is aimed at fe?HE institutions across the UK to support their work with the SME community.
• Work-based learning maturity toolkit.

*Sustainability has been added to phases 2 and 3 as a new key area.

Queen’s University and Belfast Metropolitan College have teamed up to produce a new website called EngageNI for SMEs in Northern Ireland. Funded by the JISC BCE Programme as part of a portfolio of Open Innovation and Access to Resources projects, the project aimed to produce an online facility enabling Belfast Met, Queen’s and SMEs to collaborate to create sector specific online services. This initiative aimed to try more innovative ways of promoting and delivering collaborative online services, and built on existing extensive relationships between Queen’s and Belfast Met in the supply of business and community engagement services within Northern Ireland.

The service offers SME firms trading in the areas of advanced materials, automotive engineering, cyber security or sustainability, advice on accessing a range of consultancy services, research initiatives, intellectual property, technical services and other facilities offered by both institutions. Such a service may target a specific area, e.g. “Low Carbon Economy”, to integrate information on: specific HE related projects; external funding information; descriptions of available FE technical experts; Intellectual Property available for licensing; or relevant projects and training capabilities.

The challenge for Northern Ireland business is to increase productivity and grow the value added in their operations through innovations to their products, processes and services. In the majority of cases the micro businesses and SME’s, which dominate the local economy, do not have the necessary internal knowledge to do so without the use of external resources. Belfast Met and Queen’s hope to provide that link for making use of available resources that will enable businesses to increase their level of innovation, R&D and ultimately increasing their competitiveness.

Dr Paul Donachy, Head of Business Development and Commercial Exploitation at Queen’s University said “Queen’s and Belfast Met are always looking at ways to engage with SMEs and this website will be a facility that will allow us to do this”.

The website includes knowledge assets and key resources from various areas such as Engineering, Mechanical and Physical Sciences. It will also integrate assets and capabilities from the existing centres at Queens such as Polymers Processing Research Centre, NI Technology Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Factory Simulation and Queen’s University Environmental Science Technology (QUESTOR).

Damian Duffy, Director of Business Generation & Learner Services at Belfast Met said “We are delighted to have been involved with this project. It highlights the collaboration between the two educational sectors in Northern Ireland and also provides a unique platform for businesses to make use of existing facilities and expertise that both institutions can provide”.

Relationship management is becoming increasingly important in the tertiary education sector as education institutions try to meet the challenges of funding cuts and increased student and community expectations. Customer relationships, which, if handled effectively, will bring benefits to both the organisation and the sector as a whole.

JISC CETIS have recently published an overview of the findings from the Phase 1 of the JISC Relationship Management Programme, which ran from July 2009 to April 2010. The Programme was divided into two strands: BCE CRM (Business and Community Engagement Customer Relationship Management) and SLRM (Student Lifecycle Relationship Management.

The report, Relationship Management in UK Higher and Further Education – An Overview, is available for download here

JISC infoNet are pleased to announce the launch of a new infoKit – ‘Knowledge Transfer 2.0’, or ‘KT2.0’.

‘’Knowledge Transfer, and specifically the transfer of innovation and intellectual property from colleges and universities to businesses and other communities, is a changed game. In many significant ways the context has changed, the skills and tools required have changed, and innovation practice has changed…..but nobody has bothered to update the manual: to set out the new rules of the game!’’ (Brian McCaul, originator of the approach and author of the new infoKit)

This resource integrates current innovation theory, modern social media tools and current thinking on market behaviour or motivation, to provide a more effective model of Knowledge Transfer; a model that is capable of delivering more with less.

This rich and practical resource demonstrates the benefits of a more progressive and less proprietorial approach to knowledge transfer, and makes a strong case for a new, open, technology-enabled approach which has potentially wide applicability across the sector. Woven throughout the resource are a number of sound key principles which reflect leading thinking in the area and which will resonate widely in the current climate of austerity and public accountability.

For more background and context about the resource see http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/kt/about

View the new infoKit at http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/kt

Dr Allyson Reed, Director of Strategy and Communications at the Technology Strategy Board has recently written an article highlighting the TSB’s five-year strategy for 2011-2015 and sharing her views on how businesses can stimulate growth, including through collaboration with universities and open innovation. Technology Strategy Board is focused on how real and tangible business benefits can be delivered from innovation through collaboration.

One of the ways that open innovation is encouraged is through Innovation Platforms, where many players are brought together to address a key societal challenge
Dr Allyson Reed

Read the full article here