The third annual Knowledge Transfer Policy and Practice Conference was hosted at Heriot-Watt University on Friday 23 April with over 300 delegates from across Scotland's research community attending and distinguished key note speakers travelling from as far as the USA taking part.
The conference is a prestigious and distinctive event that draws on broad coverage for all disciplines to engage in the KT agenda.
This year's conference featured speakers from the Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise, BIS, HEFCE and the UK Research Councils, as well as discussion of Open Innovation with representative from a range of business sectors. As usual, organisations offering funding and practical opportunities for researchers to engage in KT also featured throughout the programme.
The conference is designed to provide practical advice and the latest information on KT policy directly from those who are responsible for creating that policy and allows participants to establish contacts from a large network of colleagues across the Scottish innovation and research base. Speakers and the audience include representatives from Scottish government, Scottish funding bodies, research staff and PhD students.
This year also saw the expansion of the Knowledge Transfer Conference to include a Knowledge Transfer Training Day and an Impact Poster Competition which encouraged further outreach to junior academic research staff.
Nearly 70 postgraduate students, early researchers and participants took part in a series of seminars and debates on policy, business and outreach Vivienne Parry facilitating the day.
The Impact Poster Competition had over 40 entrants with a successful 20 shortlisted finalists exhibiting at Friday's conference. The winner was announced at the closing session of the conference.
The success of the Knowledge Transfer Scotland Conference proves that Scotland is still keen to improve to increase and make stronger links between knowledge creation and application in industry.