Press Release

Quality Research AND Industrial Relevance  :  Can Lambert be Achieved ?

Is it really possible for industry to team effectively with academia to secure both industrial-relevance and
high quality research, as the Lambert Review would like to see or is this an impossible dream ? Recent
independent assessment of Mobile VCE’s achievements suggests that, at least for one industry, this is an
attainable goal.

In the early 1990’s Dr Walter Tuttlebee, Executive Director of Mobile VCE for the past 4 years, served on
the DTI’s programme management committee for the LINK Personal Communications Programme, which
funded joint industry-academic research projects: “It was clear that all too often differences in expectations
hampered real achievement of the goals of either - industry wanted short term payback, while universities
wanted to do long term research. The structure and motivational mechanisms of Mobile VCE, established
by the founders of Mobile VCE 8 years ago, have overcome this mismatch. Back then, looking in from the
outside, in industry, I was sceptical as to whether it could succeed; today the results speak for themselves”.

Indeed they do. For its Core 2 research programme Mobile VCE successfully bid for LINK funding,
administered through EPSRC, to augment its primary industry funding. At the end of this programme
EPSRC commissioned its usual assessment of the research outcomes by independent experts. This resulted
in the award of an overall assessment of ‘Outstanding’, concluding that Mobile VCE’s research was indeed
‘Internationally Leading’. To many of the industrial companies involved in steering the research
programme on an ongoing basis this did not come as a great surprise – papers presented by Mobile VCE
researchers had secured ‘Best Paper Award’ at the 3G2003 conference last year, as well as receiving
unsolicited praise from the US-based Software Defined Radio Forum. Strategic research inputs are
regularly contributed to this international industry Forum, as well as to another, the Wireless World
Research Forum (WWRF). Two of Mobile VCE’s researchers are presently seconded to the National
Institute of Communications Technology, at Yokosuka Research Park in Japan and later this month Mobile
VCE leads a two week industry mission, on Future Mobile Evolution, to Korea and China.

“Having recently assumed responsibility for EPSRC’s Communications research programme I have been
very impressed by the breadth and depth of global industry involvement secured by Mobile VCE. At its
research planning exercise earlier this year the day began with presentations from Korean, American and
German companies, giving their perspectives as global players, of the future directions of the industry.
Complemented by equally strong academic inputs, the day proceeded to focus on the key long term
research needs of the industry”, said Dr Nafeesa Simjee, EPSRC Programme Manager.

Many of EPSRC’s recent innovations are embodied in the Mobile VCE model – harnessing sustained
industry funding alongside EPSRC money (cf Strategic Partnerships), long term commitment to pioneering
academic institutions with an established track record (cf Portfolio Awards) and creation of true, yet
geographically distributed, centres of research excellence (cf Interdisciplinary Research Centres). As
Industry and Government seek to assess the implications of the Lambert Review, EPSRC has many of the
essential building blocks coming into place; now the challenge is to see if these can be brought to bear in a
coordinated way across other industries.

--ENDS--

For further information, please contact:

Mobile VCE:
Dr. Walter Tuttlebee
Mobile VCE Tel: +44 (0)1256 338604    E-mail: jennyj@mobilevce.com    Web: http://www.mobilevce.com

4th June 2004	MobileVCE Home	Copyright © 2004 Mobile VCE.