These AIOs are networked in Great Britain and Ireland via the UDIL Group(1), and more loosely on a European basis via IACHEI(2).

Professionals working in the AIOs, who are usually experienced scientists or engineers, normally have mental or manually-accessible databases(3), enabling them to match the problem to the locally available intellectual resources required for its solution.

It is proposed to develop a procedure for making such databases available systematically within the AIO on a personal computer, in such a way as to facilitate the development of procedures for searching for complementary knowhow on a regional, national , European and possibly wider basis, and rendering expertise systematically available to State and commercial agencies.

As regards the scale of the region, the appropriate criterion is the feasibility of the one-day business meeting within it: typically a population in the range 3 to 10 millions, with say 10 to 20 active knowhow centres with interface units associated. A central agency in the region would hold an accessible index (without confidential detail) of the knowhow available in the AIOs in its bailiwick. This could form a component of a wider database (industrial, infrastructural, etc); it would receive regular updates from the AIOs by a process which would not involve the AIO professionals in special-purpose work. It would be in the interest of the AIO professional to keep his own institutional database up to date, in his own routine activity.

The basic local record(4) would be a name, with outline CV giving problems, techniques, substances, clients/sponsors, devices, systems etc where the expertise is relevant and marketable; there would also be a record of level of availability. The local AIO would have various ways of producing this; it could be via publications, by projects, or by an internal survey, or whatever. The point is that it would be factual and the AIO would be able to vouch for it.

The regional database(5) would consist of shorter records: just a name, a list of keywords and a location for contact via the AIO (NB not direct). The basic record might be up to (say) 100 words, the regional abstract might be up to 20(6). Keywords would be defined at AIO level, but subject to a dynamic revision process if ambiguities developed at regional level. The basic search procedure would be to ask for keyword lists by various classes (problem, technique, device, system, substance, discipline or whatever), select a valid set of keywords related to the problem or to the expertise required, see who comes up, and then contact them via the AIO(7).

It is proposed in (say) a 2-year period to pilot the scheme in a small number of European regions, preferably selected as having high unemployment problems, due either to relative underdevelopment or to decline of traditional industries. Regions which have shown signs of a positive approach to the development of university-industry linkages as an employment-generation process will be given priority.

At the end of the 2-year period the system should be ready to extend systematically throughout Europe, keeping a basic regional structure, and developing total national and European accessibility on a mutual basis.

NOTES

2. International Association of Consultants in Higher Education Institutions.

3. Much attention in the information-technology field has been directed at solving the technical problems encountered in networking the access to state-of-the-art databases within the specialist disciplines, the basic record being the publication-abstract. Sophisticated systems with this capability exist, making use (eg) of Euronet-Diane. Their relatively low level of utilisation however suggest that a complementary approach to the search for available expertise might be more effective. An approach to the problem in which the unit-record is based on the individual rather than on the publication would seem to be more promising; a specialist in a field tends to have access to relevant current publications, usually via pre-publication networks. A search of the publication-based databases presupposes the existence of a person having the ability to search them meaningfully. The search for the person is therefore more fundamental.

4. Pilot-listings of databases at the institutional level (involving relatively small samples of the available expertise) have been produced as background along with this proposal, on a confidential basis to the institutions which have contributed to the pilot-study. They contain a level of detail which would be irrelevant to a regional database; some of it may even be regarded as 'sensitive' (eg who has worked for which client). They are therefore not included with the present proposal.

5. An aspect of this proposal is the specification and eventual production of standard software to process these basic institutional databases, making them available, in abstract form, with periodic updates, to a central 'regional database'. This step would involve marginal extra work for the AIO; indeed, any work required would be of a nature as to require doing anyway (eg by personal involvement with the specialists, to ensure that their keyword-sets did not become too opaque to allow accessing their expertise by project-leaders from other disciplines: this clearly need to be done with some of the appended sample abstracts).

6. The regional database should reside in an appropriate high-profile agency, and be readily accessible to industry, possibly on the basis of an an access fee, thus covering costs. The fee however should be waived during the build-up period, in order to encourage access. Typically in Ireland the regional database might reside at the IIRS or at the NBST; it could be accessed from IDA head-office and regional offices, from HEDCO, DEVCO, CTT, Government Departments etc by phone-link. In a UK regional system, typical regional access-points might be the Welsh Office, the Greater London Enterprise Board etc.

7. A pilot 'unified abstract file' is appended. Each record has six fields: name, discipline, problems, techniques, equipment and location. Each field contains a set of keywords which should in practice have emerged from a two-way interaction (covering relevance, validity, opacity, etc, taking into account the cross-disciplinary nature of the exercise). The AIO, being staffed with professional applied-scientific generalists (a 'general practitioner' of applied-science, to borrow the medical analogy), is of course perfectly capable of interacting with the various institutional specialists in this way; it is a primary function of the job. Techniques and equipment are only listed if special or non-standard. This is a matter for local judgment. Each field of the file is separately indexed. The 'location' index gives not only a list of special skills and equipment available in each location (NB we have not done this in the pilot-study, but the exercise with DBASE-II would be trivial), but also provides a list of 'client/sponsors' and 'associated enterprises' for each institution; these however are not name-related. This is a security-measure: an enquirer, seeing company X, would have to contact the relevant AIO, state his business, and allow the AIO to ascertain whether it is appropriate to set the contact up, bearing in mind the specialist-client relationship. The 'associated enterprise' category is where a specialist is linked (possibly by a directorship, or a part-time appointment, special long-term consultancy relationship or whatever) with a particular firm or agency, often, if a firm, a 'high-technology spin-off'. Note that even in the small pilot-sample we have identified 4 such.

The foregoing did not get taken up; I had considerably over-estimated the ability of UNESCO actually to fund things. It would have made more sense to go to the EEC.

Outline STAR Proposal

This project, a development of the earlier 1984 concept, was generated with a possible move to Limerick in mind.

Background

    The  proposer  is currently working in association  with  two  software     firms  (Aonad,  which  specialises  in local  and  specialist  database     systems,  and Captec,  which does communications software). He has been     working  on  a  project  basis  in the recent  past  with  three  State     agencies,  one  specifically regional,  on projects directly linked  to     the content of this proposal. For the NBST he has been looking into the     question  of  inter-regional  technology  transfer  linkages   (models,     structures,  rationale);  for Shannon Development he has been  piloting     some specific inter-regional linkage opportunities between small high-     technology  firms  in two Community regions.  For the Youth  Employment     Agency  he  has been looking at the role of the  Colleges  as  knowhow-     sources for community enterprise. It should be possible for one or more     of these agencies to find resources,  either in money or staff time, to     make up the national contribution component towards the funding of this     project.

Problems

    (a) The 'interface activist' needs to know who (ie specialist or firm)     knows how to do what, where they are, what they have usefully done     recently,  who  else they talk to (have worked for,  or have sponsored,     doing what). If this knowledge is readily available, appropriate people     and  firms can be mobilised to deal with problems and opportunities  as     they arise, thus generating business.

    (b) The 'SME' manager needs access locally to specialist expertise,  to     State  agency  and Community databases relating to  new  products,  new     markets  and  new technologies,  and to information  about  prospective     commercial  partners  having complementary profiles in other  Community     regions.

    This  type  of  service is currently available from a  multiplicity  of     dispersed sources,  usually in Dublin.  It needs to be available from a     readily-accessible  single  integrated source,  on a regional  or  even     local basis, if it is to be effective as a service fuelling a regional     growth dynamic.

    For  a  small sub-set of innovative firms,  there has begun to exist  a     foretaste of what is envisaged in the present proposal,  in the form of     the Esprit network.

Proposed Terms of Reference

    1. To identify existing local/regional contact-points for access by SME     to information relating to sources, markets and technologies.

    2.  To  assess the extent to which existing contact-points have  access     via PC to regional, national or Community databases.

    3.  To  recommend an outline topology for an integrated  local/regional     network, with access to regional, national and Community databases.

    4.  To  bear  in mind the potential creative role  of  the  third-level     Colleges  as  regional  nodes having a special developmental  role  for     independent SMEs.

    5. To specify an appropriate relational database structure for enabling     local  and  regional  resources and needs to  be  made  accessible,  at     appropriate levels of abstraction, in other regions, nationally, and at     Community level.

    6.  To  examine the potential of package-switching and video networking �     as components of the support infrastructure.

Scope

Software

Required Resources

    1. a small group of 2-3 full-time workers

    2. part-time support (10-25%) in every designated node.

    The first group would include the proposer;  the second would extend to     all participating Colleges,  regional BICs where these exist,  chambers     of  commerce,  incubation  centres etc.  The other full-time  activists     should  consist of appropriate experts in database  and  communications     software,  possibly  drawn  from commercial firms (see  below),  or  on     secondment  from  a  College.  The whole might add up  to  a  full-time     equivalent  of,  initially,  some 4-6 people working as a  co-ordinated     team,  rising  eventually  to  some  8-10  people,  with  the  proposer     providing project management.

    It is envisaged that the existing State agencies participate in their     capacity  as contact-points for national databases.  It would  thus  be     appropriate  to  designate appropriate individuals in the  agencies  to     liaise,  and  to charge their time as part of the national contribution     to the project budget.

    There  may  perhaps  emerge  a special role for  the  National  Linkage     Programme  in support of this project,  in that the latter can  provide     for the former the possibility of enhancing the linkage process between     innovative  SMEs (rather than between Irish SMEs and  multinationals),     on an inter-regional and international basis,  thus extending the scope     of NLP work.

Procedures

    Thus  entry  to the database must be selective,  restricted to  actions     useful  in  regional  or local  development.  'Squirrelism'  should  be     discouraged,  though occasional serendipitous entries would perhaps  be     useful.  The function of the database (and,  eventually,  an associated     expert  system)  would  be  to concentrate the  lore  of  the  'growing     points'.  Firms  wanting  to  get  in must  cultivate  the  'growth  by     innovation'     process.     If    they    restrict    themselves    to     cultivating routinely a static market, they don't get in. It is the job     of  the  regional  (or local) development activist  to  implement  this     policy creatively and with sensitivity.  Residing at the 'triple point'     between the regional R&D system,  the third-level teaching system,  and     the  regional  set of 'innovative SMEs',  he or she is well  placed  to     fulfil  this function,  as is the community enterprise worker at  local     level, for the smaller enterprises.

Relationship to Other Proposals

I subsequently adapted the foregoing for inclusion as a module for incorporation in STAR Proposal submitted as from Shannon Development, as follows:

Problem Statement

    For  this  investment to pay off at the regional level,  or  indeed  at     Community level, it is going to be necessary for SMEs in the Regions to     be able easily to access appropriately structured,  accurate and up-to-     date  databases,  and to process the information from them into  useful     commercial knowledge.

    This  need  is  particularly acute when it relates  to  the  innovation     process,  focusing  on information relating to markets,  technologies,     sources, expertise etc.

    Large  central  databases  (ie  national  and  Community)  suffer  from     accuracy  and relevance problems when viewed from the  regional  level,     with  the result that their frequency of consultation is  low,  despite     the  increasingly  widespread availability of  personal  microcomputers     (PCs)  among SMEs,  together with the availability of package-switching     networks such as Eirpac, Euronet Diane etc.

Objectives

    The  "Active  Regional Node" (ARN) would support a database  of  firms,     products,  organisations,  expertise  within the Region;  this would be     developed  from an initial static directory-type data-set by adding  on     systematically  information  relating to "innovation  events"  as  they     occurred in real time. The detailed hands-on management of the regional     database  would  involve one or more professionals whose job it was  to     provide  the innovation support services in the Region;  in  its  basic     active  form  it  would  reside  on  his/her  PC;   it  would,  if  the     professional involved was active and competent,  be accurate,  relevant     and up-to-date.

    As  well  as  detailed  within-region  information,   the  ARN  of  the     distributed  system would carry (a) indexed abstracts of selected other     regional  databases  of  direct  interest   (b)  indexed  abstracts  of     relevant national and Community databases (c) direct access  protocols     for  all  indexed  abstracts,  for  use in the event  that  detail  was     required,  by  the  procedure of issuing a structured  enquiry  to  the     remote source via the package-switching system.

    Where  national and Community databases require an access fee,  the ARN     would  be the subscriber,  providing a retail service to  regional  SME     until such time as volume builds up to a level justifying direct access     by a firm in its own right.

    One can thus summarise the objective of the project as the provision of     a  friendly entry-point,  with back-up services,  for regional SMEs to     the  global  information  system,  with  particular  reference  to  the     needs of the innovation process.

Project Definition

Phase I (feasibility)

    1.1  assessment  of the type, volume and nature of  information  flows     associated with the innovation process;

    1.2  identification of sub-sets of these flows which would be  enhanced     by  the use of existing standard technology (eg PC with Dbase II;  this     would constitute a "micro-implementation" as suggested below);

    1.3  estimation of the current and projected utilisation of PCs in SME,     including their use in communications mode and by decision-makers;

    1.4   identification  of  relevant  abstracted  sub-sets  of   regional     information,  appropriate  for  availability at national and  Community     level, and throughout the dispersed network;

    1.5  establishment  of  agreed  procedures  and  standards  with  other     regional nodes in Ireland (primarily the BICs in Dublin,  Cork,  Galway     and  Derry;  we  thus introduce a "cross political frontier"  component     even at the feasibility stage, without straining the resources);

    1.6 identification of other actual or potential pilot ARNs elsewhere in     the Community, primarily in the BIC system, with a view to the ultimate     extension of the network Community-wide.

Phase II (design)

    It  will be necessary to design such a structure so as to be compatible     with  the  needs of a variety of  different  regions,  while  remaining     compatible with the abstracting process.

    It  is  envisaged that software be developed ad hoc,  or evolved  using     (eg)  an appropriate Dbase-compatible expert system shell,  to  support     the  process  of  building  national  and  Community  databases  on   a     foundation of accurate, relevant and up-to-date regional information.

    It  is  also  envisaged that the problem of ease of access  by  PCs  to     communications networks and the various regional, national nd Community     databases  will be addressed by appropriate choice of,  or  development     of, user-friendly communications software.

    The  question  of  the hardware configuration required  to  handle  the     volume  of enquiry at regional,  national and Community level will also     be addressed.

Phase III (implementation)

    The experience of this will be used to fuel the system design  process,     with  pilot-scale  implementation  in  Plassey  and  one  other  centre     (possibly Cork or Dublin) in year 2.

    By  year 3 it should be possible to have trained the key  professionals     in all relevant ARNs in Ireland to a level of active participation, and     to  have implemented the abstracting procedures so as to ensure that an     up-to-date national database exists fuelled by the regional nodes.

    Inter-regional  contacts  on  a community-wide basis  will  develop  in     proportion  as a compatible approach develops in other regions  of  the     Community.

Organisation

    Contact-points  in other regional "technopoles" (ie the active regional     nodes  of the projected network) will relate to the project on  a  non-     cash basis,  in the mutual interest; they will be developmental clients     or  customers  of the system,  who will devote some time and effort  to     interacting  with it,  in their own perceived  interests,  the  project     providing  them  with  a ready-made structure and  procedures  for  the     development of their own databases.

Resources

    We  consider  that  a serviced professional man-year is  chargeable  at     £IR70k, so that the total cost of the project is therefore estimated at     £IR420k.  This may be allocated £IR100k to Phase I, £IR200k to Phase II     and  £IR120k  to Phase III.  The latter is subject to revision  in  the     light of earlier developments, including developments in other regions.

    Appendices:  Techne profile,  Captec profile;  CVs of proposer Dr RHW     Johnston and prime sub-contractor's expert John Campbell.

Some navigational notes:

Copyright Dr Roy Johnston 1999