Firehaus, the Bristol-based brand consultancy, is bringing Academia and Industry together with the launch of The University of Bristol’s The Enterprise Sessions and Interact.
Interact is a newly-funded initiative through Made Smarter Innovation, part of UKRI. Many of the barriers to digital innovation in manufacturing are not actually technological, but economic and behavioural. Social science, with its focus on human behaviour, has much to contribute to help industry overcome these challenges. Yet many social scientists are unaware of the opportunities manufacturing provides as a platform for their expertise.
Interact has been launched to bring pioneering human insight to the industry and accelerate the adoption of industrial digital technologies in the UK manufacturing sector. Firehaus worked with Made Smarter Innovation and academics from the Universities of Loughborough and Strathclyde to create the positioning, name, branding and manifesto film for Interact.
The brand will offer expertise in social and economic sciences to initiate research and improve access to insights to inform the future of a net-zero economy and make an important contribution to how the UK realises its ambition to become a global leader in industrial digitalisation by 2030.
Professor Jill MacBryde, University of Strathclyde, Co-Director of Interact comments: “Our long-term vision is to build a strong, vibrant, interdisciplinary community to support UK manufacturing in the adoption and development of digital technologies that will result in a stronger, more resilient, manufacturing base. We know that technology alone is not enough. We need to harness the knowledge of people and society to really reap the full benefits that technology can bring.”
Jill MacBryde, University of Strathclyde, Co-Director of Interact adds: “Firehaus were great to work with. They explained everything and discussed our choices. They listened to our multiple stakeholders and were very flexible. We ended up with something we are delighted with – but would never have been able to do ourselves!”
Meanwhile, The Enterprise Sessions is a series of films led by Prof. Michele Barbour Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor: Enterprise and Innovation at the University of Bristol. She speaks with founders, researchers and academics from different disciplines and career stages who’ve been part of its Enterprise ecosystem. Guests include Konstantina Psoma, Professor Wuge Briscoe and Professor Roberta Guerrina and will cover a range of topics from funding, licensing and IP, consultancy, contract research and business incubation. The series aims to inspire others to consider how they can realise impact from their ideas. Jones Millbank were responsible for all of the video production for the project.
The University of Bristol now tops the list of UK universities for the return on investment achieved by spinouts and is ranked in the top 3 for equity investment. [Govgrant: University Spinout Report – Parkwalk and Beauhurst: Equity Investment into UK Spin outs 2022]
Prof. Michele Barbour says: “The University of Bristol has an impressive track record of enterprise and innovation and we’re keen to share that knowledge within our community as well as with a wider audience. The Enterprise Sessions is a new content series that brings to life the personal stories of spinout Founders and how our enterprise ecosystem has them.”
“Firehaus took our idea and created a branded content series, introducing the broadcast-style interview approach, as well as the name and look and feel. The approach has allowed me to develop rich conversations with our interviewees and showcase their experience of our ecosystem which will be of huge benefit for anyone involved in research, innovation and enterprise.”
Nick Barthram, Strategy Partner at Firehaus adds, “Firehaus have worked with a range of organisations in the Research, Innovation and Enterprise space, including UKRI, Made Smarter Innovation and The University of Bristol. Consequently we’ve developed a clear understanding and methodology to ignite opportunities at the intersection of academia and industry”.
Source: Firehaus
Bringing Academia & Industry Together – Increasing Impact & Informing the Future added by newsroom on
View all posts by newsroom →
You must be logged in to post a comment Login