Industrial Mathematics Internships create a new bridge between industry and the mathematical knowledge-base.

The KTN for Industrial Mathematics and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have injected fresh energy into UK businesses by launching a programme to bring cutting-edge techniques to business innovation and to develop long-term working relationships between companies and universities.

An Industrial Mathematics Internship is a way for companies and university research groups to develop long-term working relationships and promote direct knowledge exchange, through engaging a dedicated postgraduate researcher to work on a specific industrial project over a period of 3-6 months.

Each Internship is a collaboration between a host company, an Intern, and a research group within a university. The advantage of Industrial Mathematics Internships is threefold: for companies, university departments and the Interns themselves.

The Internship programme enables:

• industrialists to explore new horizons or improve existing operations by bringing mathematical expertise and cutting-edge techniques into their innovation activities.
• postgraduate researchers to demonstrate their knowledge and insight in addressing industrial challenges.
• academics to use Internships as a seed for growing new industrial collaborators and relationships.

A pilot phase of the initiative runs between September 2007 and August 2008 and has established 6 Internships.

Further details are available at www.ktn-internships.net. To find out how your organisation can benefit from this programme, contact Dr Vera Hazelwood.

Examples of Impact

"The Industrial Mathematics Internships programme is an excellent example of how business and universities can collaborate for mutual benefit - helping businesses become more innovative and successful by making effective use of skills and knowledge developed in universities while at the same time providing extremely valuable experience for postgraduate researchers. The critical component is that researchers will work on finding solutions to real business problems, something for which the Maths KTN already has an excellent reputation." - Tim Bradshaw, Head of Innovation, Science & Technology, CBI

The pilot

The Internships pilot was successfully established this year. Companies involved include ACE Group, Lloyd’s of London, Unilever, Frazer-Nash Consultancy, Barrie & Hibbert and LSC Group.