All about Competence Centres
Why do research in certain areas lead to competence centres and how do they work within the centres? Today a series of articles starts where you can learn about all of the ITM school's competence centres. But first some basic centre knowledge.
Competence centres often have focus on new research areas. But far from all research projects in new areas give rise to a competence centre. Someone who knows more about how this works is Sanna Pehrson from KTH's Research Support Office (RSO).
”Competence centres have long-term collaborations with external partners. They can exist much longer than ordinary research projects and have a different kind of openness. At start-up, centres do not have to specify exactly what they will be doing during the time they exist and that gives them freedom to develop together their with partners.”
There are several types of ”competence centres for research”: Competence Centres (specific for Research funders), Research Centres, Resource Centres, Network Centres and Program Centres. Within schools, there are also centre-like initiatives.
Most competence centres conduct their own research. However, Sanna Pehrson tells that certain types of centres have more of a coordinating role, such as managing research infrastructures, building project portfolios and finding suitable project partners for other businesses on assignment.
”We divide them like this to clarify that there are different types of competence centres and that they have different functions and funding.”
Based on research interests
Not everyone can start a competence centre. As a researcher, trying to initiate your research within the framework of a centre can take many years.
”It requires one or more partners who are willing to go in with money or research time and who sees it as a longer commitment. In addition, there needs to be a description of what the competence centre will be engaged in, a relevant reserach question and a business plan. It is much easier to get all that through an external announcement.”
Almost all competence centres are externally initiated. They are often the result of a specific need defined by an external party – a scientific, industrial or societal need.
”It can be an industry that requires a certain competence or an authority that wants to invest in developing a certain research area. KTH has competence centres initiated by industrial companies, Vinnova, the Stockholm region, the Swedish Armed Forces and Karolinska Institutet to give some examples.”
Before a competence centre can become reality there also has to be a decision from KTH's President. The decision specifies the steering group and director, how long the centre has a mandate to operate as well as rules for cooperation between the centre partners. During a centre's active years, it is largely the Vice President who makes the decisions, while the lawyers from RSO draw up agreements that regulate the centre's activities.
Collaboration is the key
The long-term collaborations take many different forms within the centres. They often have a board with representatives from industry and society, which promotes coordination and knowledge exchanges. Results from various projects make it possible to build up knowledge banks that all parties can benefit from. Training can be designed in collaboration with industry.
”The centres get relevant research topics from the industry. Co-publishing is another advantage of the collaborations and it benefits rankings", says Sanna Pehrson.
However, the schools at KTH can only indirectly take credit for their competence centres. A centre must belong to a school and it automatically becomes the school where the director is employed. Centres also do not have their own employees. The researchers are employed at their departments and divide their time between centres and other activities.
Text & illustration: Alexandra von Kern