Submitted by clarem on 4th June 2019
In February 2019, a workshop took place to analyse and explore the various aspects of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). This was organised by the Isaac Newton Institute (INI), the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS), Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and an organising committee representing the breadth of the mathematical sciences. The event took place at ICMS in Edinburgh, related to one of 26 recommendations made by Professor Philip Bond in his 2018 Review of Knowledge Exchange in the Mathematical Sciences launched at the House of Lords.
Over the three days, the 70 representatives from the mathematical sciences community heard from senior UKRI representatives who outlined the ISCF purpose and processes and the various challenges for consideration. The mathematical sciences community then discussed with these representatives the areas of mathematical innovation they felt underpinned the challenges. They also considered how the community might engage with senior business delegates in co-creating such challenges. By discussing the requirements for a ‘good’ ISCF challenge and with priming talks on global industry trends, templates were worked on which might be considered mathematically-inspired ISCF challenges.
A report has now been published that summarises the discussion that took place at the workshop and identifies some next steps. This includes a foreword by David Abrahams, Director of INI and was written by Matt Butchers (KTN) and Joanna Jordan (Independent Mathematics Knowledge Exchange Consultant).
Further information can be seen on the KTN website.
