Internships at Imperial Innovations

The news that there are opportunities to take up internships at Imperial Innovations provides a rare opportunity to write about “job opportunities”. There aren’t many chances to get experience at the frontiers of knowledge transfer.

This one doesn’t say so, which is a big mistake on their part, but Imperial Innovations is actually offering to pay interns. Too often the word “intern” means slave labour, where you have to pay your own way. This is especially true in the media, which may go some way to explain why there are so many middle-class entrants whose parents can afford to bankroll them.

Chris Haley, the Market Services Manager at Imperial Innovations, who posted the opportunity over on LinkedIn, says that “these are paid internships, although we would hope that applicants are more interested in the work experience than the salary!”

There are two positions open, covering technology transfer and market research. Lasting for four months, “extendable by mutual agreement,” the announcement says that the internships “would be ideal for candidates with a strong technical/scientific background wishing to move from research into the commercialisation of the results of research”. Apply by 17 April.

The knowledge transfer profession is becoming increasingly professional. No longer is it the domain of career academic admin folks. Indeed, the whole idea behind the Institute of Knowledge Transfer (IKT) is to professionalise the business. Maybe an internship should count for one of the qualifications that the IKT is so keen to promote.