From
the Lab to the People
Rob
Mann
It’s
a bit of an indulgence but I just can’t help myself from reading
more than strictly necessary about the new technologies
that come through our office.
Today I have been considering the practicalities involved
in licensing some academic software to a
company that thinks it may shed new light on some of their
problems. The software has arisen out of ongoing research
in the physics department, and I just can’t resist dipping
into a couple of journal papers that describe it.
This ‘science tourism’ is a great perk of my job, but it’s
not long before I remember why I’m really here – to
help researchers in successfully take their ideas
into the commercial world.
Earlier today I attended our weekly group meeting, where all
of the Cambridge Enterprise teams catch up with what’s new
and what’s been achieved. This week we’ve received
5 new inventions, in fields as diverse as biotechnology,
pathology, telecoms and chemistry.
This job really has broadened my knowledge
horizons and has given me an appreciation of topics that I
otherwise wouldn’t have even known existed. This is not accidental
– when I was a research physicist I found myself losing interest
in working on the same problem year after year, but I still
had a strong curiosity in science.
This is my second job since then, and it has reinforced my
belief that satisfaction of your curiosity is the
crucial ingredient in enjoying your job.
This all started half a lifetime ago of course, when I chose
science over art or business at school. I remember wanting
to know how the physical world works, and I found some of
the concepts in maths and physics genuinely beautiful.
The more I learnt the more satisfying the whole picture became.
I think that I made the right choice – science has kept me
interested and securely employed ever since. Along the way
I’ve picked up some universally useful skills (logic, persistence,
creative thinking, …) and – for the icing on the cake – I
still get to indulge in arty things at home! |
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