Postgraduate Training and Research for the New Era

How Modern Universities and Industries can Work Together

Professor Jeremy Watson FREng

Director: Global Research, Arupjeremy.watson@arup.com

Chief Scientific Adviser: DCLGjeremy.watson@communities.gsi.gov.uk

Arup

A trust, not a public company- 10,000 employees worldwide- 90 offices- Multidisciplinary

Driven by belief in benefiting society and delivering the best quality of work

Investing to develop knowledge and capability

Innovation a key differentiator, togther with Design excellence and quality Engineering

• Dedicated Innovation executive• Close linkage with Foresight and Research groups• Flexible interventions: SPVs, licensing, market testing and introduction• Example: Investment in contactless recharging of electric vehicles

Arup – Projects

Major projects include:

- Sydney Opera house (Australia)- Pompidou Centre (France)- Stansted Airport (UK) - Channel Tunnel Rail Link (UK)- Beijing Olympics – Water cube and Bird’s Nest stadium- Cross Rail

Integrated Research, Design and Engineering is a key business differentiator

Research context in Arup

• Research seen as essential to maintain and grow market position – and identify incremental and step-out opportunities

• Research is typically ‘applied’ and anticipatory of business need: time scale – ‘now’ to three years+

• Emphasis on innovation: ‘Concept to Commercialisation’

• Research ‘pull’ – from Business leaders and ‘push’ – from Design and Technology networks and academic partners

• Research fund to encourage internal and external investment

• Driven by strategic roadmap

Arup Research capabilities

3-D Modelling Education Materials Acoustics Electrical Services Mechanical Services Advanced Analysis Energy Moving Structures Air Quality Environment People Movements Archaeology / Heritage Facades Pharmaceuticals Asset Management Flood management Planning Regulation Audio Visual Fluids Product Design Aviation Geology Project Management Building Physics Geotechnics Public Health Business Performance Healthcare Railw ays Business Systems Highw ays Safety Communications Human Behavioural Dynamics Tunnelling Contaminated Land Industrial Consulting Universal Access Controls Inspection Repair Refurb Urban Design Corporate Responsibility Investment appraisal Vehicle Design Cost IT Venues Demand Analysis Know ledge Management Vertical Transportation Design Research Landscape Waste Development Planning Lighting Water Dynamic Behaviour (structures) Logistics Workplace Performance Ecology Maritime Economics

1. Strategy•Corporate research roadmaps•Regional and group strategy facilitation

2. Network

3. Funding

Research Offering Components

•Set up and management of research consortiums•Links to research funding bodies

•Grow and develop the research network • Internal engagement in multidisciplinary research•Engagement with key external partners

4. Building capability •Doctoral training

Arup Research – Global Deliverables

Delivering the Research Strategy

Influencing research agendas

• Facilitating and supporting the delivery of regional research strategies

• Implementing roadmap-based funding mechanisms

• Sharing priorities with partners and funding agencies

Research Strategy

Regional Research Champions

Regional Champions act as representatives and liaison points for corporate Research. They are responsible for supporting the development and executing the Regional Research Strategy

AmericasAustralasia

East Asia

EuropeUK MEA

Global strategy team

Relationships with National Funding Agencies

Proactive mission to promote mutually-beneficial relationships

- Thought-leadership and ‘agenda calibration’- Unbiased sectoral representation- Roadmap-sharing to assist national research agendas

Awareness of and response to Calls

Consortium formation

Strategic Partnerships- EPSRC allowing definition of Programmes under joint funding- Work in EU under European Construction Technology Platform &

E2B PPP- Dialogues with NSF, NIST, ARC, MOST, SSTC, etc.

Research Funding at Arup

In house research- R&D calls for proposals for Global and regional projects £600k - Project Plus £50k

External collaborative: regional and global- External Collaborative Research projects £600k Global, £130k Americas- Pays Arup staff time and expenses for collaborations- Leverage between x1.5 and x4

Manage

~£2.5m

Arup’s Knowledge Supply Chain

Arup’s approach – a Knowledge Supply Chain

Foresight- Internal using roadmapping- External using focus groups

Research strategy development- Consultation with business units and clients

Research execution- Collaboration with universities and research councils

Validation and deployment

Capability development- In-house university offering EngDs with UCL- 55 (internal + external) doctoral students world-wide

ProductServiceProcess

Innovation

Now, New, Next

‘New’

‘Next’

‘Now’

Concept

Commercialisation

• Emerging trends – Drivers of Change• Thought leadership• Delivering the agenda

• Needs interpretation• Knowledge generation• Delivering IP

• Community• Operational excellence• Delivery to projects

Time

Foresight

SkillsNetworks

Research

SEED NURSERY DEVELOPMENT ESTABLISHEDNEW

Solar Chimney

Airplank

Origin of the ideaExternalInternal

Joint

Geotechnichs and Google Earth

SparACE

Food production

Glass roofs

SparACE

Low cost PV

Whiplash protection

Twisting towers

Ope

n pr

ojec

tsC

lose

d

CAS-wind turbines

BIPV-Odersund

Cold sintering of carbonate

True colour terrestrial laser scanning

Habitat mapping

Mortar-less brick wall

Rainwater harvesting

Inhaler mouth piece design

Biodiversity Green Roofs

Mail manager support for blackberry

Truss floor

Green date centres

Balu

Realdania

Inflatable roof

Bullet trajectory

TekDek

Hydrofluids

Pufferfish

DefinIT

BA

U

Invarion

CommercialisationLegalprocesses

Idea creation &triage

Managing Ideas

Arup UniversityArup has always provided a learning culture

In 2007, we added a formal programme of staff development

Doctoralmodules

Mastersmodules

Professionalmodules

Accredited EngD qualification4-year, on-the-jobDriven by business need

Intensive 10 day specialist trainingProvided by HEI partners

Distance and face-to-face CPDProvided by regional skills networks

Doctoral study• Arup University Doctoral Programme

• Agreed guidelines permit ‘study on the job’ – 40 days per year study

• Doctoral awards accredited by UCL under terms of a strategic MoU

• Delivery partnerships with Columbia University, NY and HKUST

• Recruitment of first cohort of Research Engineers: >50 applications

• Establishment of Doctoral College• Conference November 2011

Doctoral College“The Doctoral College was set up to create a community of Arup research students, where they can share knowledge, experiences and foster links between internal Arup experts and external doctoral students, their academic supervisors and host universities.”

Doctoral College established Spring 201155 members and growing

Includes all students undertaking PhD study either part funded or supported by Arup (e.g.EngD’s, CASE Award, Arup University DM modules, part time study)

HEI Collaboration supported by ArupLecturing and supervision

Studentships• Internships• Sponsored first degree students• Masters (incl. Arup branded courses) • Doctorates, Eng D

Research collaboration• Co-sponsorship of government funded research• Use of specialised facilities at universities: cooperation/fee for service• Contract research

Strategic engagement• Endowed chairs at departments• Staff education-Arup University• Membership of university advisory groups

Example: Collaboration with UCL

Thames Gateway Institute for Sustainability- Research partners- IfS chair

EPSRC Networks- Eco-cities with China

Arup’s in-house ‘university’- Doctoral registration, accreditation and research training

IDC/CDT involvement: Sustainability and Resilience, Energy

Advisory Boards: Enterprise, Sustainable Cities

Reciprocal visiting staff and faculty

Doctoral studentships (CASE, EngD, etc.)

Multi-threaded, ‘natural partnership’

What are the challenges of Industry-HEI collaboration?

• IP & contracts

• Information sharing– Who are the experts?

• Gap between proven technology (TRL 3) and implementation (TRL 6-7)

• Dissemination– ‘Continuous transfer’

• Measuring the impact

What are the benefits?

• Open innovation

• Creating and demonstrating Impact – business and academic

• Partnering for adventurous research- Higher risk research appropriate for HEIs

• Leveraging research funds- Co-funding with Research Councils- Private/public research consortia (e.g. E2B PPP)

• Allowing client dialogue to continue in downturn- Interests beyond immediate business- Identifying future opportunities and preparing through research

• Respond to strategic priorities

• Collaboration vs. spin out – long term investment

Innovation drives Collaboration

What is Innovation?

Concept to Commercialisation? (TSB’s new theme)

Idea to Implementation?

Schumpeter: ‘Creative destruction’ – Disruptive technologies

Displaces and replaces – products, processes

Also augments, makes more effective

Associated with entrepreneurial thinking

It’s not just about invention or creativity (but creativity’s pretty important)

Creating jobs which did not previously exist, and solving problems that people assumed were part of the natural order of things (Economist, Feb 24 2011)

Types of Innovation

Push- Technology creates a market

Long gestation, success = high payoff

Pull- Existing market drives development

Rapid deployment, standards help

Platform innovation- Enhancement of market

Concurrent and continuous- Collaboration across supply chains

Facilitated by industry associations

Triggering and nourishing innovation

Thought-styles- Analogies, cross-discipline transfers, e.g. Biomimetics- Systems thinking and multi-disciplinarity- Curiosity-driven research

Real needs- Economic growth, carbon neutrality

Funding environment (UK)- Flat CSR, Technology Strategy Board active and effective

Connectivity and partnerships- Co-creation and open-source approaches

Some current effectors in innovation

• Blurring of industrial boundaries

• Co-creation with the customer and with users

• Social media changing the life style

• New generations have different values and ways to make decisions

• Shifting center of gravity of global business is changing the rules

• Outsourcing / Crowdsourcing of R&D&I

VTT thoughts

Government interventions can help

Research Councils (7)- £2.5bn investment in university research per annum- Company participation through sponsorship, research students,

etc.

Technology Strategy Board- Technology transfer and deployment

- Innovation Platforms- Collaborative R&D- Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs)- Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs): 66% / 70%

employment costs- SBRI – Strategic procurement: 100% funding

50% support

Innovation - Inhibitors and Drivers

Cost- E.g. Pharma - £1bn, 10 years, 1 in 20 success rate

Getting less favourable

IP- Academic approaches can be an impediment, only 10% of revenue at

MIT

Risk mitigation through:- Modelling- Open innovation- Sharing risk e.g. with trials patients in Pharma

New ideas vs. Incremental thinking – c.f. Academic drivers/risks

Examples of Arup Collaborative Research

Emerging Research Topics for Collaboration

Carbon emission: a top-level driver

Drivers and Trends: CO2

CO2 rise derived from Antarctic ice core measurements and readings from Mauna Loa, Hawaii.

James Watt’s steam engine developments took place in the 1750s

IT responsible for 3% of CO2 emission, similar to aviation

• Tipping point – 500ppm?Ice caps melt, more sunlight absorbed, trapped CH4 & CO2 released

Keeling curve

Temperature modelling

Summer 2003: normal by 2040s, cool by 2080s

Observed temperatures

Simulated temperatures

Stott Nature 2004 – updated to 2007 – HadGEM1

Met Office

Policy: Priorities for the Built Environment

Adaptation (time-frame 0 to 50+ years)• Global temperature increase has already led to seasonal extremes• 23,000 excess deaths in EU in 2003, ~900 in UK• Need to design buildings with passive cooling (and ensure that compliance with

high code levels does not make things worse)

Energy shortages (time frame 5 to indefinite years)• Global depletion of fossil fuels and exhaustion of indigenous fossil fuels• Drive to de-carbonise central energy resources – need to ‘go nuclear’• Need to minimise energy consumption in buildings

Mitigation (time frame 0 – 200+ years)• We have to live with effects of already-emitted carbon for 200+ years• Ultimately must bring carbon emissions to an equilibrium point• Possible active sequestration – CCS plus atmospheric abatement• Buildings viewed at district-level should be carbon neutral or negative

Regulatory obligations

HMG is committed to an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 and 45% of

all present carbon emissions come from existing buildings, with 27% from

homes

80%+ of existing buildings will still be here in 2050

Building regulations – review in 2013

Obligations – e.g. mandatory emissions reduction targets

- 2016 – Residential new build zero carbon

- 2019 – Commercial new build zero carbon

- 2050 – 80% carbon impact reduction: legacy and new build

Energy Act 2011 – First Green Deal Q4 2012

Buildings: retrofit challenges

Issues• ~22m homes to be retrofitted by 2050 1500 per day from now ‘till 2050• £10,000 - £20,000 cost per home• Impact of £220bn - £440bn• Inhomogeneity of stock implies challenge in achieving ‘standard solutions’• Lack of standard solutions implies difficulty in obtaining cost-down through scale

Needs• Cooperation across the supply chain – industry association as collaborative and

single-minded as SEMI• Deployment at scale of relevant materials, components and systems• Skills to install• Behaviour change• De-risked finance models – investment-quality energy audits

Infrastructure UK

IUK aims:

To provide greater clarity and coordination over the planning, prioritisation and enabling of investment in UK infrastructure;

To improve delivery of UK infrastructure through achieving greater value for money

Some £200 billion of investment planned over the next five years, across the economic infrastructure sectors (energy, transport, waste, flood, science, water and telecoms)

IUK has been set up as a separate unit within HM Treasury, providing advice to the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury who leads on infrastructure issues and who reports to the Chancellor of the Exchequer

An expert advisory group (EIEG) is working to identify technical interdependencies and opportunities

Infrastructure: a systems issue

• Understanding costs and

VfM opportunities

• Synergies and inter-

dependencies

• Holistic planning and

maintenance

• Futureproofing and re-

purposing

Built environment in the 22nd centuryDesigned as an integrated and organic system

High density, low rise, mixed use, ‘walkable’

District-level thermal and electrical energy from waste and renewables

De-carbonised electricity grid – nuclear and large-scale renewables, with distributed energy storage

and HVDC links to Europe

Water recycling and re-use; local pluvial management

Local, hyper-automated manufacture of consumables, including food

Service provision augments ultra-durable capital consumer goods

Adapted dietary habits and food requirements

Reduced population, post demographic bulge, pervasive behaviour change

New work styles enabled by ultra-high bandwidth ICT

Behavioural challenges

- Dominant effect compared with physical interventions- Building and product design influences sensitivity to behaviour- Rebound and contrary behaviours- How to engineer design from objective outcomes?

- Transition dynamics – adoption curves- Role of regulation and fashion alongside technology

- Need for multi-disciplinary research to guide engineering and policy

- Systems which learn (and maybe question) choices and behaviour

In Conclusion...

New innovation behaviours can enable growth of collaboration

The players?- Universities and Research Technology Organisations- Manufacturers of components and systems- Architects, designers and engineers- Construction and Facilities Management- Owners and Users

Challenges for the industry and its knowledge and physical supply chains

Need research, demonstration and business collaboration down the length of the supply chain

“If we collaborate now, how much bigger will the market be in two years?”

Parallel as well as serial development

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Trends and the Future

• Centres of Excellence spanning regional and national boundaries- Not just overseas spinoffs

• Advanced international funding schemes e.g. EraNet

• Open Innovation clubs with multi-national industry partners

• University departments as co-innovators with industry –

permeable boundaries

• ‘Grand Challenges’ shared internationally

Postgraduate Training and Research for the New Era

How Modern Universities and Industries can Work Together

Professor Jeremy Watson FREng

Director: Global Research, Arupjeremy.watson@arup.com

Chief Scientific Adviser: DCLGjeremy.watson@communities.gsi.gov.uk

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION