Comment: Collaborate to reap the best reward

Jun 11 2009 by Stewart Watkins , The Journal

MASTER clockmaker, John Harrison, who is credited with solving the problem of accurately recording longitude, did not work alone, according to new research from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

Harrison invented the marine chronometer in 1736 following a plea from Parliament offering a £20,000 reward to anyone who could discover a way to help sailors to accurately calculate their east-west position.

However, when senior horologist Jonathan Betts recently dismantled a 1735 prototype at the Royal Observatory to replace a broken part, he deduced that Harrison must have had help from a master brass-smith.

Collaboration achieving invention has been a theme throughout history.

Possibly one of the most famous collaborations for our region was Thomas Edison working with Sunderland-born Joseph Swan who gave the first public demonstration of the incandescent light bulb to the Chemistry Society of Gateshead in 1878.

Some 130 years on and collaboration is as important, if not more so in taking the science of the lab to a commercial stage.

Thorn Lighting in Spennymoor is working on a multi-million-pound project to develop next-generation lighting technology which has the potential to transform the way we light our lives in the future.

Dr Geoff Williams is leading the project for Thorn but his team includes incredibly bright people from other organisations, not least Professor Andy Monkman from the physics department of Durham University who is providing considerable technical expertise.

Universities are a goldmine of knowledge, ideas and expertise and the more we involve them in the commercial world, the more successful our economy will be.

CDDC recognises the importance of this which is why we were delighted to get the five vice-chancellors from the region’s universities to take an active part on the board of the North East Technology Park (NETPark).

Elsewhere, we are seeing collaboration between universities such as the newly formed Angel Alliance which has seen Durham and Newcastle universities join forces with regional development agency One North East so that each body can use their individual expertise and resources to accelerate the development of science-based businesses within the region. This collaboration benefits all parties in a number of ways, not least in the fact that the combined annual research spend for Durham and Newcastle comes to £121m helping to create a critical mass to attract investment.

Stewart Watkins is County Duirham Devlopment Company MD