Bringing ideas into the world: Foresight’s approach to knowledge transfer and impact

A warm welcome to Foresight Science and Technology, one of the newest Initiator Member of the UIIN community. We recently spoke with Arendt Speser, CEO, about how the organisation approaches knowledge transfer, commercialisation, and the role of relationships in creating meaningful impact.

Over more than four decades, the organisation has worked with universities, research institutions, startups, and public organisations. Its work sits at the point where ideas move beyond research and begin to take shape in the world, whether as products, services, or broader societal contributions. This long-standing position within the field gives Foresight a perspective that spans both the evolution of technology transfer and the changing expectations around impact. 

From ideas to application 

At the centre of Foresight’s work is a practical question: how ideas move from concept into application. In practice, this can mean supporting institutions as they develop intellectual property, assess commercial potential, and consider how research might move beyond the lab or concept. 

While this process often leads towards market-facing outcomes, Foresight’s perspective extends beyond transactions alone. Knowledge transfer is understood here as a broader process of bringing ideas into use, shaped not only by products and services, but by the institutional settings, interpretations, and priorities that influence how knowledge takes form in the world. 

Relationships as the starting point 

For Foresight, commercialisation does not begin with a contract. It begins with relationships. 

The most rewarding part of the work that I do is the relationship building… that’s what I look for primarily. The work will come after.

That principle runs through the way the organisation engages with partners. Projects often take shape gradually, beginning in conversation and only later becoming formalised. The point is not to avoid structure, but to recognise that meaningful work rarely starts with paperwork alone. 

This also helps explain why much of Foresight’s recent activity in Europe has grown through personal connections. Relationships are not presented as a soft benefit alongside the work. They are part of the method. 

Working in systems at different stages 

This approach matters because Foresight works across institutional environments that do not begin from the same place. In the United States, the technology transfer infrastructure has had more time to mature, creating more established pathways and innovation pipelines. In Europe, there is greater variation among different countries and institutions. 

Some institutions have clear pathways for intellectual property, commercialisation, and industry engagement. Others are still building the underlying structures, or are only beginning to define what knowledge transfer should mean in their own context. Efforts at European level, including the European Innovation Council and funding programmes such as Horizon Europe, are helping to address these gaps by supporting innovation capacity, collaboration, and clearer routes from research to application. Still, the difference is not simply regional. It is also institutional, shaped by policy, funding, organisational culture, and experience. 

For Foresight, that means each engagement starts with a different baseline. In one setting, the work may focus on strengthening an existing system. In another, it may begin with more basic questions about how research can move beyond the lab, who is responsible for that process, and what kind of support is needed to make it possible. 

Rather than applying a standard model, the organisation works from where the institution is. In practice, that currently means active engagements with universities in Ireland, the Netherlands, and Portugal; each at a different stage of knowledge transfer maturity, and each requiring a different kind of support. 

A broader account of impact 

That variation in context also shapes how impact is understood. In Foresight’s account, impact is not confined to revenue and licensing, or to the commercial destination of an idea. It includes the wider effects of research in use, and the different groups involved in bringing that research into the world. 

This changes the terms of the conversation starters, and its progression. The question is not only what value a technology might generate in the market, but how that value is understood by the people around it, from those developing it to those affected by its use. 

This is particularly relevant in Europe, where questions of competitiveness are increasingly prominent. Foresight’s position is not that commercial outcomes matter less, but that they do not tell the whole story. A fuller account of impact leaves room for different institutional priorities and for forms of knowledge that sit outside the most investment-ready fields. 

That includes the social sciences and humanities, which are often absent from narrow accounts of technology transfer, but remain central to how ideas are interpreted, communicated, and adopted. For Foresight, this is more than an abstract commitment. Its team combines scientific, legal, and humanities expertise, reflecting a deliberate view of what knowledge transfer requires in practice. 

In late 2025, that view took organisational form when Foresight made its first European hire, appointing Marialaura Grandolfo as Strategic Impact Officer. The role points to the kind of capability the organisation sees as central to knowledge transfer: making impact not only real, but legible to funders, policymakers, institutions, and the people whose lives a technology might affect. Grandolfo holds a PhD in Comparative Literature, and her move into knowledge transfer was shaped by a question familiar to many researchers: why does the impact of serious work so often get lost between the lab, the publication, and the public? 

In that sense, Foresight’s model reflects a broader shift in the field: recognising that knowledge transfer depends not only on technical and legal capability, but also on the interpretive and communicative skills that help research move into real-world use. Interpreting what a technology means, translating it for audiences who will never read the original paper, and understanding why a message does or does not land are not secondary tasks. They are part of how impact happens. 

From relationship to collaboration 

In practice Foresight’s work often begins with informal connections that evolve into more structured forms of collaboration. 

A recent collaboration with the Research Impact Management Office (RIMO) at Imperial College London shows how that process tends to unfold. The connection did not begin with a defined piece of work, but through a professional relationship that developed over time. What mattered first was not the definition of a project, but the sense that there was something worth exploring together. 

In this case, that shared interest was research impact: how it is understood, how it is communicated, and how differently it can look depending on where you stand. The workshop that followed grew out of those conversations and will be delivered at the upcoming UIIN conference in Stockholm. Rather than presenting a single framework, it asks participants to work through competing priorities and make decisions from different positions. 

The point is not simply to talk about impact, but to expose the negotiations that sit underneath it. In that sense, the collaboration is less important as an event than as an example of Foresight’s way of working: relationships first, structure after. As a consultancy, that balance matters. Trust may open the door, but projects still need form, from clear agreements and budgets to the practical conditions that make continued work possible. 

What comes next

As Foresight continues to grow its presence in Europe, its interest lies not only in expanding its project base, but in staying close to a field that is still taking shape. Its first European appointment gives that ambition a more concrete organisational footing, while also reflecting the broader view of impact that shapes its work. 

That means paying attention to how institutions define knowledge transfer and to the forms of collaboration that emerge around it. It also means working in a context where there is room to define success differently. Europe’s knowledge transfer landscape may be uneven, but that unevenness also creates space for other priorities to come into view, including the social and institutional dimensions of impact that can be overlooked in more transactional models. 

Interested in learning more?

To learn more about Foresight Science and Technology, visit their website or LinkedIn. 

Foresight will be joining the UIIN Conference in Stockholm this June, where they will deliver a joint workshop with the Research Impact Management Office (RIMO) at Imperial College London focused on how organisations define and negotiate impact in practice. The session reflects the type of collaboration that can emerge through shared networks and continued exchange.

Join a global community shaping the future of universities

Foresight Science & Technology is one of many organisations around the world redefining how higher education engages with industry, government, and society. As a UIIN Member, you’ll gain access to this global network of forward-thinking institutions, connect with peers tackling similar challenges, and exchange insights on innovation, entrepreneurship, and societal impact.

Whether you want to strengthen your partnerships, build internal capacity, or stay ahead of emerging trends — UIIN Membership gives you the platform and connections to do it.

Luca Barbera (author) is a Project Officer at UIIN. His work encompasses a broad spectrum of research topics, including sustainability, deep tech, engagement practices for universities and academics, with a particular emphasis on the valorisation of results.