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Making the case for new business initiatives requires sound evidence, expertise and insights in addition to those currently available to hard-pressed business development executives.

At the same time, many academics work in fields which can provide the evidence needed to rationalise business and organisational initiatives. Others have expertise which could be aligned with ongoing or prospective research and development (R&D).

Introducing the Strategic Insight Programme

Modelled on a very successful scheme operated by universities in Wales, the University of Westminster’s Strategic Insight Programme enables academics to spend up to one week – either as a single block of time or extended over a number of days – joining external organisations to scope specific R&D projects.

Collaborations can have a number of benefits for both parties. For the University of Westminster this includes helping academics to access external R&D to inform their research. But the key, we think, is the programme helps ring fence sufficient time and collaborative expertise to define a specific R&D project. Without this initial investment for evidence gathering, many sound business ideas do not secure the necessary project investment.

Apart from your time and human resources, the Strategic Insight Programme lets you explore the potential of a university-business partnership at no cost.

There are also specific funding programmes for collaborative R&D projects which require businesses to have a university partner, including:

The Strategic Insight Programme placement enables academic time to be spent on agreed activities with a view to scoping and making the business case for potential R&D projects.

We've worked with

  • The Institute of Promotional Marketing to explore the prospect of applying quantitative techniques in modelling the impact of High Incentive Retail Promotions on sales volume and pattern for a consortium of high-value retailers and FMCG brands.
  • Acuity ETS and iMotions (a company delivering eye-motion technology) to map the research programme needed to validate the use of this technology in the sales promotion field and to start to understand the possible commercial models that could be used to being the validated technology to markets.