Bold model of Censis blends industry and university cores

But earlier this year he broke his vow and accepted the role as chief executive of Censis, the centre of excellence and innovation for Sensor and Imaging Systems.

Mr Reid, speaking at Censis's base at the Inovo building on George Street in Glasgow, said: "I vowed I would never go back into a permanent organisational role but this position came up with Censis,

"I had the model described to me and I thought this was a fascinating and bold attempt to do something quite different. It was a great opportunity so I decided to come.

"I particularly liked the overt objective in effecting a culture change in the interface between industry and university."

Censis, set up last year with an initial £10 million pot from the Scottish Funding Council, works to promote the wider sector, improve skills and act as a match maker between business and academia for projects which aim to create economic benefit.

That could be in sector specific research or problems which might have wider ramifications across a number of industries.

Censis can commit funds to those projects and is developing an in-house team of engineers to get involved in certain areas and also carry out its own research.

Applications could involve anything from gas detection and chemical monitoring to diagnostic tools for blood pressure and food processing equipment.

The global sensor systems technology market is estimated to be worth in the region of £375 billion next year.

Mr Reid, who joined Censis on May 4, admits the technology and knowledge transfer landscape is a crowded one however he has been pleased by the engagement shown by industry and academia so far. He said: "We are very hard on being industry led. All the projects we get involved in are driven by an industry need.

"One of the challenges of course is industry has different pressures and runs to a different time constant whereas the heartbeat of universities is slightly different for good reasons. It is that matching that is challenging."

The nature of Scotland's business landscape, with a large volume of small and medium businesses, is one area which the organisation is particularly keen to tackle.

Mr Reid suggests Censis is working hard to engage with businesses of all sizes, through events and other outreach activities, but concedes things will not change overnight.

He said: "We have very active industrial members on our board who are starting to open doors for us which is taking us into communities of interest [and], trade associations.

"We are just trying to find the mechanisms to be efficient and effective engaging with industry but it will come and we are now seeing some unsolicited approaches [for projects] which are welcome."

Mr Reid modestly describes his own academic career, as a research assistant in Wales exploring elements of astrophysics, as undistinguished.

However that brief glimpse into the academic world probably gives him more insight into it than many who have spent the bulk of their careers in the private sector.

Still he acknowledges it has been a learning experience and said: "Working in a landscape where there are academic organisations, industry - which I understand - but a whole host of industries I haven't had exposure to in the past and then funding bodies [and] bodies that are in the public sector [then] that is a really complex stakeholder landscape."

So far Censis has announced a small number of collaborations including between Optos and Glasgow University, Gas Sensing Solutions and University of the West of Scotland and Findlay Irvine and Glasgow University.

Mr Reid says there is a growing pipeline of projects which the organisation is working on.

But asked how he would categorise the performance of Censis to date Mr Reid does not try to sugar coat things.

He said: "Everybody would have liked to have seen more concrete progress in terms of projects signed up.

"The truth of it is this is part of that learning experience of just how complex the landscape is and some of the things we are trying to do are new.

"It is one thing to write something down on a piece of paper then when you try to do it in practice [it doesn't work]. Some of it has needed refining. We are just now at this point where I can put my hand on my heart and say we are open for business."

However he remains convinced that providing better, and longer lasting, relationships between academia and business will bring a benefit to the Scottish economy.

He said: "The Scottish landscape is very vibrant. There are some great industries here which are hungry for new technology and rich in opportunities for sensor systems. That is very exciting."

That opinion ties in to the checks and balances Censis carries out before it goes ahead with a project. Mr Reid said: "There are a degree of wider considerations around the scoresheet but top of the list is economic value and a credible route to it."

Yet there is no desire to build up a mountain of intellectual property.

Mr Reid said: "In order to really create economic value for Scotland then the IP output should, wherever possible, reside in the industrial base.

"One of the things we make sure in projects is that upfront there is a clear agreement between the academic partners and industry partner.

"We have the capability to look after IP but it is not part of our objective to build an IP portfolio."

Alongside the economic development aims Censis is also involved in the creation of a new masters course in sensor systems, being run jointly by Glasgow and Edinburgh universities, and a wide ranging three-year vocational doctoral programme being set up between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Heriot Watt and Strathclyde.

Mr Reid said industry partners had been involved in the design of the course.

He added: "We have a real important part to play along that skills and enterprise training agenda."