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Aspect Programme Management

Boosting business opportunities for Aspect (A Social sciences Platform for Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Transformation)

Vertical Timeline Layout - Aspect Case Study

Challenge

Aspect (A Social sciences Platform for Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Transformation) is a network for organisations that want to make the most of social sciences research commercial and business opportunities. At the end of 2018, the Aspect lead Institution contracted us to support their programme management to meet its aims to:

  • Raise the profile and significance of commercialising social sciences research;
  • Build engagement between academics, business and industry;
  • Inspire and encourage social sciences commercialisation;
  • Grow capacity & expertise in social sciences research commercialisation; and
  • Develop, share and exchange knowledge and good practice.
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Approach

As programme managers, we helped Aspect identify resources, facilitate governance structures, and offered specialist Communities of Practice support focused on:

  • ‘Student and Alumni Entrepreneurship’
  • ‘Research Commercialisation’
  • ‘Business Engagement’ and Knowledge Exchange Communications’

The support was primarily provided online in response to SOPs impacted by COVID-19, where we managed Aspect's funding process by working closely with their finance teams. Our project monitoring support reached ~18 funded projects, supporting output delivery and communications (www.aspect.ac.ukprovides more detail on Aspect).

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We worked together with Aspect to build the programme's membership, from initial conversations with potential members, to co-developing a network membership model, to supporting new members, and engaging with practice and funded project communities. We helped Aspect co-develop good practice toolkit materials to support university Knowledge Exchange teams and researchers professional services, often ECRs, who are increasingly commercialising social sciences.

Bringing Aspect's marketing team together with our own, we co-developed the website and supported communications throughout the programme.

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Impact

Aspect has been running since 2018, growing from a network of 7 founding members to 22 (founder and associate), all working together to pilot, build and share good practice in social sciences commercialisation and entrepreneurship. Our governance, stakeholder engagement and management advice, supported Aspect’s outputs. In addition, we also supported Aspect's lead HEI’s technology transfer office launch (London School of Economics and Political Science) and provided strategy support for the Aspect ARC (Aspect Research Commercialisation Accelerator).

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