Topic Hub: Knowledge Exchange
2025 and beyond looks like a challenging period in many respects. Economic, political, social and environmental challenges will affect us as a society, the organisations we work for and us each as individuals in various ways. All while technology and markets evolve at pace. Knowledge Exchange (KE) has a vital role to play in navigating and addressing many of those challenges. As having access to the right knowledge – and knowing how to share and use it effectively to make an impact – can lead to positive change and adaptation and mean the difference between productivity and growth or stagnation.
2025 also heralds the first year under the name Knowledge Exchange UK for an organisation that has a long history of sharing best practice to generate impacts from innovation and collaboration. The change of name coincides with a time when the significance of KE is being more widely appreciated, along with the difference it can make. Our new name reflects our commitment to empowering organisations, communities and individuals to adapt, innovate, and thrive as well as our focus on making knowledge exchange easier for everyone, whatever the organisation or area of impact. There has never been a more urgent time to embrace this mission.
Changing Markets and the New Role of Knowledge
Markets are being reshaped by rapid advancements in technology, shifts in consumer demand, and an increasing emphasis on sustainability. To keep up organisations must be agile and proactive in adopting new practices and technologies, often learned from others in different sectors or geographies.
- Technological Advances: Emerging technologies such as AI and access to data automation are creating both opportunities and challenges, altering job markets and business needs.
- Consumer Shifts: Modern consumers value transparency, sustainability, and customisation more than ever before. Meeting these demands requires knowledge of the underpinning trends and practices.
- Collaborative Economy: Businesses are leveraging shared knowledge to co-create value, reduce costs, and foster innovation in ways that were unimaginable a decade ago.
Knowledge exchange will continue to be key for sharing best practices and pool collective intelligence to meet new challenges as they arise.
Changing Government and the Economy
The new government has acknowledged these challenging times with focus on missions, particularly to kickstart sustained growth and innovation with the aim of stimulating “good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off”. This pathway to long-term prosperity across the UK through increased productivity and growth relies, in significant part, on the UK’s strength in knowledge creation and higher education, which is demonstrated by the commitment to:
- Increasing the R&D budget (£13.9 billion for 2025-26)
- Covering the costs of Horizon Europe
- Increasing defence and national security spending by additional £2.9 billion
Knowledge exchange is foundational to the UK reaping the returns from these commitments and delivering on this economic ambition.
Changing Organisations
Inevitably these changes in markets, the economy and governments will lead to organisations changing too. It will require universities and research institutions optimise resources, align their work with national priorities in R&D, support workforce development, foster impactful collaborations with industry and create new ventures. It requires businesses to value R&D, to invest in it for the long term, and seek to sustainably exploit the outcomes of that endeavour. These changes need to be supported by funders and those organisations that support innovation. Together this will deliver real benefit for those organisations, the Government, the economy, customers, and the public.
New Name, New Year, Same Focus
Knowledge Exchange UK in all its previous incarnations has played a key role in connecting all those engaged in sharing knowledge and technology for impact, identifying and sharing best practice, and demonstrating what is possible. We will build on that legacy with the same spirit in the next phase of the sector’s and our organisation’s development. We will support collaboration and knowledge exchange between organisations that draw upon the breadth of expertise and methods of research, education and commerce.
Our new name signals more clearly what the organisation and its members are all about – exchanging ideas and expertise to make positive changes to the economy and society as well as underlining our focus on growing the KE ecosystem and helping the community by:
- Connecting Diverse Stakeholders: bringing together businesses, academics, government bodies and other organisations. Through our member event we foster a truly interconnected community where knowledge exchange is continuous and dynamic.
- Creating Tools for Practical Impact: not only disseminating knowledge but providing the practical tools and frameworks through our CPD provision that organisations need to develop and apply insights effectively.
- Championing Inclusivity in Knowledge Sharing: promote the opportunities that the sector presents and make knowledge exchange accessible to every region and sector in the UK, ensuring that benefits reach everyone, not just a few.
Building a Future Through Knowledge Exchange
In a world that’s more interconnected than ever, knowledge exchange is no longer optional. It’s a vital component of growth, resilience and innovation. At Knowledge Exchange UK we are dedicated to shaping a future where knowledge is a shared resource, accessible to all who seek it. By embracing knowledge exchange we can build a future where our economy is inclusive, sustainable, and forward-looking.
In late October I spent a week with other representatives from Knowledge Exchange (KE), Knowledge Transfer (KT) and Technology Transfer (TT) national associations around the globe. Sponsored by WIPO and AUTM, the International Knowledge and Technology Transfer Leadership Summit 2024 and the Cape Town Tech Transfer Week were designed to enable us to share our experience and knowledge but also to be inspired and challenged by our colleagues around the world.
PraxisAuril is one of the original national associations, alongside the European, Australian and US associations. AUTM the US association, who organised the week, are the oldest association and are celebrating their 50th anniversary year next year. In addition there were representatives from associations in Africa, Asia and South America. It was truly a global take on knowledge exchange.
Each of these national associations have been established to support their national research systems and enable the sharing best practice between institutions and ultimately to maximize the economic and societal impact from research .
The event was a great chance to reflect on how the UK system and our sector is similar and different to others across the world, and to be reminded in many respects how our system is looked upon as one to learn from.
Praxis’s development has been simultaneous with the development of the UK research system and its growing focus on maxismising impact from all disciplines, through many routes. That requires a wide variety of partnerships with diverse set of organisations that can assist and benefit from that impact. This has only been possible thanks to the support, engagement and encouragement from government for that approach, through initiatives like the Research Excellence Framework (REF), Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) and of course the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) alongside a variety of ways of funding and supporting impact. We are fortunate in the UK to have the close engagement government and funders, and the support for all disciplines of research to contribute to making the economy and society better.
The whole event was inspiring in terms of the efforts going on around the world, and reinforced the need for associations like ours to:
- Support community and networks of practice
- Train practitioners to do the best job they can
- Support assurance around the quality of our sector’s activities
- Showing the amazing opportunities KE presents to make things better
Something that our upcoming name change will embrace and enable us to continue to do for our members and the sector.
An example of this global collaboration in practice
“Praxis was asked to send a representative to the recent WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents to give the UK perspective on inventorship and ownership legislation cross borders and the impact on the ability to commercialise university intellectual property. Rachel Grovenor, from OUI went as our representative spoke alongside Stephen Susalka from AUTM giving the US perspective and Anita Nel from Stellenbosch University giving the perspective of a developing nation. Each speaker gave a short presentation – the UK presentation focused on the environment created by REF in particular. Then the delegates from each nation were able to ask questions – there was interesting discussion on political impetus that can enhance the culture of technology transfer, as well as universities’ roles in improving access to health-tech in developing nations. The goal is for the Secretariat of WIPO to build up to a full study on best practices and challenges for TTOs.”
On Thursday, 21st November 2024, Bristol hosted the much-anticipated KE Awards 2024, a night dedicated to honouring excellence and innovation across the Knowledge Exchange sector. The event brought together professionals, organisations, and projects that exemplify the power of collaboration and the impact of knowledge exchange on society.
Ahead of each winner announcement, we shared powerful video stories of the shortlisted projects, which showcased the innovation, passion, and impact behind their achievements. These moments highlighted the extraordinary breadth of talent within our community. You can view the videos here.
Congratulations to Our Winners and Finalists
We extend our warmest congratulations to all the shortlisted nominees, whose projects exemplify excellence and commitment to advancing knowledge exchange. A special congratulations to this year’s winners, who have set a remarkable standard for the sector:
- Place-based KE initiative of the Year: Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Teesside and York Universities | Northern Accelerator – Collaborating for social, environmental and economic impact in the North East and North Yorkshire
- Sustainability Collaboration of the Year: Cranfield University | The Green Future Investments Ltd (GFIL) Funds at Cranfield University
- Outstanding KE Strategic Partnership: University of Dundee | Art at the Start – Improving Mental Health Outcomes for Infants and Caregivers
- Commercialisation Achievement of the Year: University of Oxford | Oxford University Innovation, Oxford R21/Matrix-M™
- Transformative Social Venture of the Year: University of Strathclyde | C2LI
- Innovation in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion through Knowledge Exchange: Queen Mary University of London | The Verbatim Formula “Creative Care”
- KE Team of the Year: National Physical Laboratory | Technology Transfer at NPL: 3-year transformation
- KE Professional of the Year: University of Salford | Dr Adnan Bayyat, Knowledge Exchange Fellow
- Highly Commended Entry: Imperial College Advanced Hackspace | White City Hackstarter
Thank You to Our Supporters and Sponsors
We are deeply grateful to:
- UK Research and Innovation, our overarching supporter
- Anchored In, our headline sponsor
- Category sponsors: EAUC, Withers & Rogers, Oxentia, TenU and the Economic and Social Research Council
Reflections on the Night
Stuart Wilkinson, CEO at PraxisAuril (Knowledge Exchange UK) remarked:
“The KE awards last night showcased an amazingly diverse array of knowledge exchange projects and people who have and are continuing to make a real impact economically and in society, all from a wide range of organisations and their KE partners. It truly was an inspiring snapshot of what is happening across the UK, as research and education organisations come together with partners of all kinds to collaborate and make a real difference to people’s lives.”
Ananay Aguilar, Head of TenU, added:
“Celebrating the commercialisation of academic research is key to demonstrating the value of university spinouts to the UK’s bottom line. TenU exists to further this agenda, so we must recognise and support those who have the drive and determination to take their ideas to market – creating jobs, attracting investment to the UK and ultimately addressing global, critical issues as part of the journey.”
Dr. Helen Henderson, Partner and Patent Attorney at Withers & Rogers, reflected:
“Withers & Rogers continues to support the KE Awards as we are passionate about knowledge exchange and supporting the development of research commercialisation. More than ever, the strategic importance of intellectual property is being recognised, as are the opportunities available through collaborative partnerships.”
Looking Ahead
This year’s KE Awards reminded us of the vital role knowledge exchange plays in creating a positive impact on society.
We look forward to celebrating more achievements at next year’s event and thank everyone who joined us for this unforgettable evening.
Explore more photos from the event here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/myYuSaXtHU5ApX4C9
In 2019 Research England commissioned SQW, supported by City-REDI, to undertake a study examining the potential theory-based approaches that Research England could implement as part of the next overall evaluation of the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF). Such theory-based approaches had not previously been implemented systematically or at a national level in a UK knowledge exchange (KE) context and were therefore considered novel.
The aim was to consider potential approach/approaches that can complement quantitative evidence on the outcomes and impacts HEIF funding is generating (i.e. the ‘what’), with systematic and robust evidence on the mechanisms by which HEIF-funded activities lead to these outcomes/impacts (i.e. the ‘how’).
PraxisAuril members supported the project by participating in a workshop (October 2019) that introduced logic models and theories of change. These were used to analyse two areas of knowlege exchange; Facilitating the Research Exploitation Process (non Tech Transfer), and Skills and Human Capital Development.
The final Phase 1 report was released in May 2020. A copy can be downloaded here and is also available from the Research England website.
Research England has released a report detailing decisions and next steps for the KEF following last year’s consultation and pilot exercises. PraxisAuril is pleased to see that comments and contributions from universities, businesses and other sector stakeholders – including many PraxisAuril members – have been taken into account in the final metrics, narrative information, clusters, eligibility and timelines.
The UK is already one of the best in the World for collaboration between universities and business and this work is a key component of UK innovation strategy. Alice Frost, Director of Knowledge Exchange at Research England, noted that:
“Over twenty years our universities have developed ever closer links with key stakeholders, delivering benefits for institutions and their students and unlocking knowledge for the benefit of their partners. [The KEF] exercise will bring a justified focus on the progress which had been made and which we expect to continue as the government invests more in research and innovation.”
Full details of the release and the report itself can be found on the Research England website.
PraxisAuril welcomes the KEF approach which we think will bring a renewed focus to the important role that knowledge exchange professionals play in making this important work happen. The new majority Conservative government has yet to finalise its plans for innovation and R&D investment but the expectations on universities are high. Our membership has been highly engaged throughout the KEF consultation. That engagement has strengthened the validity of the KEF data and made us stronger as a professional community; bringing together different groups of HEIs. It will give us a new framework for analysing activity, and drawing out the strengths of KE across the UK and identifying potential weaknesses. Research England found broad support from the sector for accompanying narrative in three areas: public and community engagement, local growth and regeneration activities, and the broader context in which they operate. We think this will help partners to understand each university’s priorities. Because the KEF is designed to be low burden, it is based on data which is already reported by universities and no new data categories are proposed for the first exercise. Many of our members are concerned that HE-BCI data is not able to fully articulate the full range of KE activities and their economic, social and cultural impacts and the ongoing review of HE-BCI data put cart before horse. Therefore, whilst we regard KEF as an important step we hope for refinements in the next few years.
Sean Fielding, current chair of PraxisAuril said:
“The KEF has come at an important time. The UK is set for a new era of R&D driven growth and productivity, and collaboration between businesses and universities has never been so important. The UK already punches above its weight in innovation and knowledge exchange and the KEF will give us the data to prove it.”
PraxisAuril will continue to work with Research England to engage members, deliver the Framework and help our sector stakeholders to understand its purpose all whist being a critical friend in its development and implementation.
Next steps
The first results using the Framework will be published in summer 2020 at which point the underlying framework will be reviewed. No decision has yet been made about how the KEF will link to funding, and the current £213m HEIF will continue to be allocated using the current method.
In late 2016, HEFCE invited long-term strategies from higher education institutions (HEIs) in receipt of a 2016-17 Higher Education Innovation Fund allocation to submit five-year knowledge exchange (KE) strategies, as the basis for release of future allocations. HEFCE commissioned researchers RSM PACEC to assess and provide advice to HEFCE on the strategies, and to produce an overview report.
The full report and downloads are available here.