Business and Community Engagement, Technology and the Law
Welcome to JISC Legal's Business and Community Engagement (BCE) section.
Full details of JISC's Business and Community Engagement activities can be found on the JISC website at - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/business_community_engagement.aspx.
In the JISC Legal BCE section you will find information and guidance for further and higher education institutions on the legal issues which arise in the course of Business and Community Engagement activities.
What is Business and Community Engagement?
Business and Community engagement (which is also referred to as 'Third Stream' activity or Knowledge Transfer) is all about further and higher education institutions making their knowledge and expertise available to the business and wider social communities.
Of course, Business and Community Engagement is a two way street - whilst the community benefits from the institution's knowledge and expertise, the institution benefits from the experience of engaging with the business or social community in practice.
What activities are covered?
This really depends on the institution in question and the department or faculty which is providing the service. Generally, Business and Community Engagement will involve the institution providing a service of some description to the business or wider community, either on a commercial basis or for social purposes. Some examples include:-
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Commercial
• providing consultancy or research services;
• making information available on a website;
• creating designs or artwork;
• producing plans or specifications;
• carrying out safety testing or a risk assessment;
• designing a website or software;
• providing conference/IT facilities;
• providing a training course; or
• carrying out research and development.
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Social
• providing community education and outreach courses;
• operating a law clinic or advice centre;
• running "return to work" initiatives;
• providing counselling or personal development courses;
• providing access to IT or library facilities.
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The scope of Business and Community Engagement activity is very wide - each institution (and, within that, each department or faculty) will have its own area of expertise which will determine the services which it can provide.
How can JISC Legal help?
The one feature which these (and indeed all) Business and Community Engagement activities have in common is that they will all raise issues of intellectual property law, and, in particular, copyright.
Business and Community Engagement activities are often "copyright intensive" - this means that the activity will frequently involve the institution using someone else's copyright material (for instance, when carrying out research or using IT facilities) and may involve the creation of a new copyright work (such as a consultancy report, software or plans). Accordingly, institutions should have an understanding of copyright to ensure that:-
- they do not infringe someone else's rights by using material which they are not permitted to use;
- they make best use of the opportunities afforded by copyright law;
- they can identify work in which they own the copyright.
There can also be issues in relation to IT law, data protection law, freedom of information duties, and disability discrimination law.
JISC Legal has produced a number of publications which provide information and guidance for further and higher education institutions on various legal issues which arise in Business and Community Engagement activities. These can be accessed through our BCE page.
In addition, general guidance is available on copyright, liability issues, disability law, data protection and freedom of information. These publications are free to download and are available through our All Guidance section. We would ask though that you read our copyright statement and only use our publications in accordance with its terms. If you have any questions about what you can and can't do with our material, then please let us know.