Cambridge Enterprise appoints new head of consultancy services

Cambridge Enterprise has appointed Paul Seabright as full time head of consultancy services to deal with the rising demand for access to the university’s academics. Consultancy projects undertaken by academics for both public and private sector organisations worldwide grew by 25 per cent last year and is seeing a further increase this year.  

Richard Jennings, Director of Technology Transfer and Consultancy Services, said, “With the current emphasis on outsourcing and open innovation, consultancy has moved to centre stage as a demonstrably effective form of knowledge transfer, complementing our technology licensing and spin off activities.”

Traditionally the focus of consultancy has been based on the provision of expert technical advice by individual consultants to external clients. Now, the work is more varied and ranges from expert witness work in high profile patent litigation cases, to scientific advisory board work for all sizes of companies, and advisory work for private sector organisations and local and national government departments.  

Consultancy is a cost effective way for industry to tap Cambridge University’s expertise, often paving the way for long-term relationships and research collaborations.

During the financial year 2007/08 there were 124 new consultancy projects with 89 consultancy agreements signed. These generated £3.2 million, of which 92 per cent was returned to academics and departments. The academic consultants come from a wide variety of subject areas, including engineering, economics, medical and life sciences, materials science, computer sciences and law.

Seabright said, “This is a wonderful opportunity to help industry and policy makers engage the foremost academic minds in the UK to solve their immediate and specific problems and lift us out of recession.”