A guide to university-company cooperation

Enhancing innovation competencies

FINCODA brought together universities and companies from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK to cooperate on addressing the need to enhance innovation competencies and measure individuals' capacity for innovation.  At the heart of the project was the creation of the FINCODA Innovation Barometer Assessment Tool. In addition to technical development underpinned by systematic analysis and validation, FINCODA included a work package entitled Innovators education and recruitment (WP3). This was an important component of the project because it applied the Barometer in real life settings and facilitated learning across the partnership. It did this through a series of pilots involving company leaders, employees, university teachers and students. This document is the main output of Innovators, educators and recruitment. It draws together experiences from the FINCODA pilots, with an emphasis on lessons learned and practical guidance.

Download our report here

Oliver Caunt

Oliver Caunt is the Managing Director of family business, John Caunt Scientific Ltd, who specialise in nuclear instrumentation design and manufacture. Oliver relocated the business to the Bury in 2005 and has since overseen stable growth from £1m turnover to just under £2m.

With roots firmly established in the SME landscape, Oliver is a strong champion of entrepreurship and positive collaboration. He is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme; has led a successful £1m grant application in collaboration with the University of Liverpool to develop world-class nuclear reactor safeguards and operations technology; is a member of a pan-European academic/commercial collaborative project- FINCODA - setup to establish a global standard tool to define and identify innovative competencies in people for the benefit of post graduates and employers; is a participant in the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's SME mentor programme; was nominated as one of the North West Insider Magazine's 42 under 42 (faces of the future) in 2012; was the best in class for Technology in the Made in Bury Business Awards 2013; a member of the IoD99 (Institute of Directors 99 select entrepreneurs) and is now a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers in London.

Oliver lives in Ramsbottom with his wife, Ivona, and 2 young children. He spends as much time as possible out in the countryside with the kids, the dog, running and on his mountain bike, as well as enjoying the many excellent local restaurants and pubs in the area!

Needs analysis in all partner companies

Prof. Sue Baines et. al. Manchester Metropolitan University.

Work Package 2 is entitled “Needs analysis in all partner companies”. Its remit is to assess, analyse and report on perceptions of innovation, and the competencies necessary to achieve it, from the perspective of organisations as employers of innovators. This is important because FINCODA aims to extend the benefits of the INCODE Innovation Competencies Barometer into the workplace, which was developed for Institutions of Higher Education as educators of innovators...

Download our report here

Oliver Caunt

Oliver Caunt is the Managing Director of family business, John Caunt Scientific Ltd, who specialise in nuclear instrumentation design and manufacture. Oliver relocated the business to the Bury in 2005 and has since overseen stable growth from £1m turnover to just under £2m.

With roots firmly established in the SME landscape, Oliver is a strong champion of entrepreurship and positive collaboration. He is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme; has led a successful £1m grant application in collaboration with the University of Liverpool to develop world-class nuclear reactor safeguards and operations technology; is a member of a pan-European academic/commercial collaborative project- FINCODA - setup to establish a global standard tool to define and identify innovative competencies in people for the benefit of post graduates and employers; is a participant in the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's SME mentor programme; was nominated as one of the North West Insider Magazine's 42 under 42 (faces of the future) in 2012; was the best in class for Technology in the Made in Bury Business Awards 2013; a member of the IoD99 (Institute of Directors 99 select entrepreneurs) and is now a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers in London.

Oliver lives in Ramsbottom with his wife, Ivona, and 2 young children. He spends as much time as possible out in the countryside with the kids, the dog, running and on his mountain bike, as well as enjoying the many excellent local restaurants and pubs in the area!