Partnerships between businesses and universities can open up a world of opportunities.
They are an incredible way to boost innovation and productivity. One such collaboration caught my eye recently, putting Scottish university Heriot-Watt in the spotlight.
It announced a research partnership with Malaysian-based oil giant Petronas which will help develop cost-effective technologies that can take biomass and agricultural waste and transform it into hydrogen.
If you’re not familiar with biomass energy, it’s the creation of energy from living or once-living things, and it’s certainly not a new concept.
National Geographic’s resource library puts it into context really well. It reminds us that we’ve been producing this type of energy since the earliest “cave men” made wood fires for cooking and keeping warm.
Today the biomass materials most commonly used are things like wood, waste and plants, and new biomass energy sources continued to be identified.
This £1million project between Petronas and Heriot-Watt, which aims to advance the techniques used to produce hydrogen from biomass, is a great example of the private sector and academia putting their heads together to find solutions.
For example, a key objective of the research partnership is to explore ways to address challenges around scalability and storage, which the university described as “main barriers in popularising hydrogen as an alternative energy”.
It hopes to achieve this by pooling the expertise of boffins from a whole range of disciplines including engineering, science, geology and industry.
Oil giants are increasingly putting resources into transitioning and Petronas has spoken about the challenges around transitioning, and it’s under no illusions about the tough job ahead.
Last year it’s chief executive Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz reportedly described the transition as “daunting” but also said the oil and gas industry had accepted it, and emphasised its commitment to delivering “cost effective solutions with a lower carbon footprint.”
It has an existing relationship with the university, having established a research centre – the Petronas Centre of Excellence in Subsurface Engineering and Energy Transition (PACESET) – at Heriot Watt’s Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering (IGE) in June 2021.
Its establishment was a win-win for both.
PETRONAS said at the time that its decision to co-fund the centre was driven by its commitment to becoming one of the most sustainable geo-energy companies in the world.
Meanwhile the university, which is renowned for its world-leading science and energy expertise, said it would serve to strengthen its leading work. The focus of IGE is looking at the transition to more sustainable energy sources such as projects on CO2 storage, hydrogen utilisation and management as well as thermal geoenergy, with the mission of making the energy economy less reliant on fossil fuels.
I can’t stress enough just how important it is that we see this kind of continued partnership working between academics and the business community.
A few years back Harvard Business Review looked at this very subject and it was so insightful. The dean of Boston University’s College of Engineering made some really interesting observations about the growth this type of collaborative working and the ways in which it has evolved.
Unis aren’t just sponsoring the odd student to make a philanthropic gesture, or clamouring to start partnerships when interesting nuggets of research start to emerge. Savvy institutions are collaborating from the get-go, co-funding research, co-mentoring, getting involved in long-term rather than one-off projects, and reaping the benefits if there are promising results.
Cooperatives like this build such important bridges between researchers and the business community, allowing them to tap into each other’s resources, research and talent. What’s more they can also pave the way for gaining access to crucial funding.
They’re not without their challenges and both parties will likely have to painstakingly devise ways of working around key issues like confidentiality and intellectual property ownership. But if they can navigate these successfully it can prove well worth it.
I hope we continue to see growth in these types of partnerships because I firmly believe that they are an essential tool in finding solutions to problems and driving world-class research.
Innovation school in Glasgow attracts global attention
Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow recently welcomed a delegation of education leaders from Denmark to show off its modern approach to teaching.
The UK’s first “innovation school” has been dubbed the school of the future because of its unique focus on problem solving and preparing pupils for the world of work as opposed to a more traditional textbook based curriculum.
During their visit the Danish guests worked with students to build a prototype for an indoor air quality monitoring system. This certainly sounds a lot more interesting than anything I got to do during my school days and I think it’s fantastic that kids are being given the opportunity to learn about tech and to get hands-on experience like this.
The school’s rector, Dan Wyatt, believes it’s important to look around the world for examples of teaching that are centred on practical experience and wants to provide a well-rounded education for pupils that will develop entrepreneurs, experts, and innovators.
The school has previously written letters to the Scottish Government inviting them to learn more about its approach to education and I think those in power would be wise to take notice of what’s happening at this school as it sounds very impressive, and a great way to get young learners excited about their prospects.
Kelvinside Academy is a fee-paying school so some might write-off its approach as impossible for state schools to adopt, but I’m sure there are lessons to be learned and applied to schools across the board, such as futureproofing our education system by focusing on topics like technology and sustainability, and arming pupils with the necessary skills they will need to compete in the real world.
It Made Me Laugh
Pumpkin patches have been popular for several years and every autumn social media is filled with images of families posing in patches and picking the colourful veg ahead of Halloween.
But I had to laugh when I heard Scotland’s first ever pumpkin vending machine had been unveiled.
The new contraption at Arnprior Farm in Stirling will allow visitors to pick their pumpkin without having to physically hunt for it in a field.
I love to see businesses getting innovative, and while I can’t imagine it offers kids quite the same magical experience as picking your own from the patch, it’s certainly got tongues wagging and raised Arnprior’s profile.
In a world where pizza vending machines exist then why shouldn’t we have the same for pumpkins?
It Made Me Weep
I was sad to see that events at Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh will be strictly limited to a maximum of four per year due to concerns over potential rockfall from the Castle.
Councillors are currently seeking a more permanent solution but until then the number of events held in the Gardens will be slashed.
This is a real shame as these events tend to attract big names and crowds so there’s bound to be a knock-on effect on the economy. But it goes without saying that safety comes first.
This particular venue is so special and there are few locations that can rival such a striking backdrop right in the city centre of the capital. I hope a solution is found sooner rather than later.
