Building an Innovation Ecosystem: a new training course for knowledge transfer professionals

Successful knowledge transfer depends on more than great research. It also depends on the connections around it: between universities, businesses, investors, entrepreneurs, public organisations and others working to turn knowledge into impact.

For knowledge transfer professionals, this is opening up new questions about their role. How can they help strengthen those connections? What can universities contribute to their regional innovation ecosystems? And what can different regions learn from one another?

These are questions that Course Directors Ananay Aguilar and Sean Fielding will explore with participants at our new course Building an Innovation Ecosystem in Seville this November.

“Success in knowledge transfer depends on the strength of the connections within an ecosystem,” says Ananay. “Strong ecosystems give technologies multiple pathways to develop, creating the variety, networks and sometimes unexpected connections that can turn research into commercial success and wider societal and economic impact.”

Exploring the university’s role

Universities across Europe are finding different ways to contribute to economic and societal impact in their regions. Research is an important part of that contribution, but the relationships surrounding a university can also influence whether ideas find the partners, investment, expertise and opportunities they need to develop.

For Sean, universities have an important position within these networks. Their long-term presence and convening power can help bring researchers, investors, businesses, entrepreneurs and public organisations together around shared opportunities.

Universities with vibrant ecosystems around them can also benefit from what Sean describes as “a ready source of innovators who can lead spin-outs, venture funds, customers, networks of innovative organisations all within easy reach.”

It is a relationship that works in both directions: universities can contribute to the development of their regional ecosystems, while those ecosystems can create new connections and opportunities for researchers and knowledge transfer professionals.

What can regions learn from each other?

No two innovation ecosystems are exactly alike.

Each region brings its own combination of research institutions, industries, talent, investment, infrastructure, networks and culture. This means that an approach that works well in one place may not translate directly to another.

But those differences also create opportunities to learn.

By sharing experiences across regions, knowledge transfer professionals can explore why particular approaches have worked, where challenges have emerged and which lessons might be useful in their own contexts.

For Ananay and Sean, understanding the existing strengths and gaps within a region is an important starting point. Capital and infrastructure matter, but so do relationships: who is connected, who is missing from the conversation and how organisations with different priorities can work together.

These are questions without a single answer, which makes exchanging experiences particularly valuable.

A changing role for knowledge transfer professionals

Relationship-building and stakeholder engagement have long been part of knowledge transfer. As universities become more involved in their regional innovation environments, however, knowledge transfer professionals are increasingly working across organisational and sector boundaries.

For Ananay and Sean, this brings skills such as systems thinking, network leadership, cross-organisational governance and working through uncertainty further into the knowledge transfer role.

That role will look different from one institution and region to another. Sharing those differences – including what has worked and what has not – can help the wider community develop its own approaches.

Bringing different experiences to the same table

Building an Innovation Ecosystem is a training course designed to create space for that exchange.

Over three days, participants will bring perspectives from their own regions into the discussion, explore European case studies and compare experiences with peers working in different innovation environments.

Together, the group will explore questions around stakeholder engagement, leadership, funding, governance and measuring success. They will also consider the different roles that universities, KTOs, cities, science parks and other organisations can play in connecting an ecosystem.

The aim is not to provide a single model to copy. Instead, participants will learn from different approaches, reflect on what those experiences mean for their own regions and develop practical ideas they can take back.

And, as with any ecosystem, the connections made along the way are part of the value. Participants will leave Seville with perspectives from peers facing similar challenges, new relationships across the European knowledge transfer community and a practical action plan for the next steps in their own ecosystem journey.