Time to harness brain power for benefit of firms in region

Feb 12 2009 By Graeme King, The Journal

ECONOMIC experts have been saying the North East needs to develop a "knowledge economy" for years.

The work of Knowledge House is aimed at doing that, and its work is particularly crucial in hard times.

But its value is not always the easiest of things to quantify. As an agency charged with using the academic knowledge in North East universities for the good of the local economy, its contribution is in the ‘value added’ category which only a proper understanding of its role can measure.

The agency says it is responsible for generating £5m of turnover for the universities which provide its funding, but the work done – when exploited fully – is about giving an extra something to companies right across the North East and the value of that, both financially and otherwise, is immense.

Those whose businesses have benefited from introductions to academic excellence in the universities cannot speak highly enough of Knowledge House’s contribution.

Mark Jackson, business development director for Knowledge House, is a passionate advocate for what the organisation can do for the region. He has been on board since it was formed in 1995 so knows the stories of many a North East business which has benefited from its work.

He says: "We are suffering the credit crunch at the moment, but we’ve got to stay ahead of the low cost economies. We can’t compete on price with China or India, so we have to use our skills and innovations.

"We want to make sure the North East economy can exploit the skills we’ve got in the region. Traditionally, the universities have been classified as ivory tower and difficult to get into, but we can be practical as well as doing more blue sky thinking."