The Personification of Innovation - Andrew Dearing, 1954-2010

Andrew Dearing

The memorial service for Andrew Dearing was held in the grey stone kirk in the Scottish Borders village of Longformacus, but the names and the accents of the congregation spoke from all across the European Union. Similarly, the book of condolences had appreciations from EU Commissioners, company chief executives, sister research associations; the European University Association, and colleagues from the European Industrial Research Management Association (EIRMA).  

For ten years as Secretary General of EIRMA Andrew’s innovative approaches developed the organisation for the 21st Century, making it now the best forum in Europe for a new generation of technology-led companies to discuss the challenges they are facing.  He helped create a setting where national, European, and global policymakers are coming together with industry to share insights into accelerating wealth creation by innovation.

EIRMA exists so that companies can improve the management and organisation of their R&D and innovation activities.  To these ends Andrew build a strong portfolio of activities for the members, Special Interest Groups (for example, on Intellectual Property, Knowledge Management, Open Innovation), Learning Groups and Management Study Groups, Round Tables and a prestigious Annual Conference.  

More importantly, Andrew recognised the need to put to good use the unparalleled perspective that the member companies have of the ‘research and innovation ecosystem’.  With energy, enthusiasm and cheerful persistence he guided the EIRMA governing body in the development of an Outreach Programme to provide policy makers with valuable business insight; to enhance relationships between ‘science’ and ‘business’, and to support national and international business organisations representing interests of industry sectors and professional groups.

An early success was the development of the Responsible Partnering Guidelines for University–Industry collaborations. Strongly endorsed in the 2006 Aho report ‘Creating an Innovative Europe’, it helped directly shape policies on this topic in a number of countries.  As understanding of the value of the contribution possible from EIRMA member companies deepened, the then Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik appointed Andrew to the Identification Committee for the setting up of the European Research Area Board (ERAB), and then to the European Research Area (ERA) Rationales Group to refine the vision for ERA and to make recommendations for its strategic orientation and policies.  

As a result there were significant changes to the approach to ERA, including the introduction of a greater demand-side perspective, a better alignment of EU science funding with economic, social and environmental goals, and a greater engagement with global innovation networks.  EIRMA member company delegates were appointed to ERAB, and during the French Presidency of the European Union several conferences and seminars set up by OECD, and involving EIRMA member companies, demonstrated the growing convergence of the views of policy makers and industrialists.   

Andrew continued to be very much at the heart of these deliberations and he was appointed to the expert panel that carried out the evaluation of the €19 billion Sixth Framework Programme, providing a number of critical recommendations to improve the future effectiveness of such programmes, that are now built into the ‘2020 Vision’ for ERA.

Working with the European University Association on Responsible Partnering led to the DocCareers project to raise the awareness of young researchers of careers in Industry, and to prepare them appropriately for life beyond the academic world.  The final report from this project will help universities, companies and policy makers understand how best to address the changing career requirements of these most highly trained people.

In all of this, Andrew was informed by the 25 years he spent working as a researcher and research manager in both public and private sectors, before joining EIRMA.

Andrew had a personal vision of the benefits that science and technology could bring to society and he worked tirelessly to make it happen.  You could say Andrew personified innovation.  He had a fount of creative ideas that were coupled to his strong project management skills, and above all, shaped by a deep understanding of his customers, be they the board of EIRMA; the individual EIRMA member companies; the Technology Committee of the OECD’s Business and Industry Advisory Committee, which he chaired, or the labyrinth of the EU Commission and its Directorates.  

The start of June saw the EIRMA Annual Conference take place in Barcelona. The theme for the meeting:  Megatrends and Future Thinking.  Andrew’s memorial is to have made EIRMA a strong foundation on which can be built a better future for science and for business across Europe.

Dr Phil Gamlen has spent much of his career in industry, holding senior positions with the chemicals company ICI, where he was involved in manufacturing, product management, internal strategy consultancy and R&D management, both in the UK and the US. He is now a Senior Fellow in the Executive Education programme at Manchester Business School, Manchester University, where he specialises in innovation, creativity and technology. He has been a member of the governing body of EIRMA.