Academic Impact
A business perspective
James Johns
Director of Strategy, Civil Government
HP Enterprise Services
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©2011 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice
Hewlett-Packard…
– The world’s largest technology company by revenue
– Ships 1million printers per week, 48million PCs per year
– Operates in more than 170 countries
– Employs 300,000 people, more than 16,000 in the UK
– Supports 20,000 additional jobs in the UK through its
distribution channel
– Has more than $100bn annual revenues
– Is the largest supplier of IT services to the UK Public
Sector
– Spends $3.5bn pa on R&D
– Has one of its five global research laboratories in Bristol
– Works in partnership with many UK universities
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Our work helps a range of public sector
organisations to develop & implement policy
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There are many reasons why academic
relationships are important to us
Add
Capability
Enable
Collaboration
Enhance
Credibility
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• Access to expertise we couldn’t hope to replicate inhouse
• In support of our own research efforts
• “Because they will use it for something we haven’t
thought of, and it will break.”
• Influencing what’s taught and how
• To provide peer groups for our own researchers and
subject matter experts
• To allow us to work as part of the wider research
community
• Through our own Innovation Research Programme
• Through academic independence
• Facilitating contact with individuals and organisations
who might otherwise prove hard to reach
• Underlining our status as an innovative company and a
good corporate citizen
Some examples of our current and recent
academic partnerships
• Five-year research-based partnership from 2005 to 2010
• Centred on 5 themes, including public policy & productivity
• Seminar programme to disseminate & discuss findings
• HP-funded, full-time research centre in the School of
Management
• Aimed at developing expertise in Programme and Project
Management
• Long-standing relationship, exact nature has varied over the
years
• Current focus is a teaching partnership - HP-branded degree in
Enterprise Computing combining internships, professional
qualifications
• Unique (?) example of a technology company sponsoring
contemporary history department
• Rolling sponsorship programme combining MA bursaries,
academic funding and a high-profile seminar programme
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What makes a successful partnership from
our perspective?
– “Bottom-up” rather than “Top-down”
– Good quality, relevant and practical research and teaching
– Mutually beneficial (not necessarily symmetrical)
– Focussed on competitive differentiation and adding value
– Trusting, strong personal relationships
– Academic Independence is not the elephant in the room
(but we’re all grown-ups, aren’t we?)
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Impact?
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Further Information
Contact Details
James Johns
james.johns@hp.com
07790 493971
Web Links
LSE innovation research partnership
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/researchAndExpertise/units/innovationResearch/Home.aspx
Cranfield International Centre for Programme Management
http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/p13518/Research/Research-Centres/ICPM-Home/About-ICPM
University of the West of England Teaching Partnership
http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/news.aspx?id=1835
Queen Mary Mile End Group
http://www.meg.qmul.ac.uk
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