25 July 2014 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
The Efficiency Exchange recently published a summary article of sector efforts to achieve value for money. The article champions efficiency projects in a number of areas, including the HE workforce, estates, and open data. It also looks at work done on asset sharing by groups such as the N8 research partnership, and in a separate article proposes steps that universities can take to make the most of sharing assets (and evidence it).
Another significant project for equipment sharing is equipment.data, an EPSRC-funded project to improve accessibility to, and encourage the use of, UK HE research equipment. It’s a publicly accessible website that enables searching across UK research equipment databases. Universities are using it to share equipment with each other and to provide businesses with access to equipment, stimulating research collaboration between HEIs and the private sector.
Finance teams are key stakeholders in the project, as in many institutions the HEI asset register sits in finance departments. Finance teams in participating institutions will therefore have a role to play in directly or indirectly providing asset data to the website, as well as working with departments in setting charge-out rates. Diligent teams may also be able to use the exercise as an opportunity to gain a better picture of assets in far-flung corners of their institution, and to develop these as alternative sources of income.
The equipment.data team is happy to answer any questions or queries you might have on how you can use the system, and the issues involved. Contact Louise on 02380 598586, or drop her an email.
