BLACKBURN IS THE UNLIKELY setting for one of the UK's leading research institutes, specialising in helping businesses to think and work smarter.

The Applied Knowledge Research Institute (AKRI) aims to bridge the gap between the heady world of academia and the needs of manufacturing industry.

Based appropriately at the Blackburn Technology Management Centre, the institute specialises in knowledge management and intelligent systems.

And according to research director John Gordon, small and medium firms in East Lancashire could learn much from their work.

The Institute is part of Blackburn College, but its board is made up of senior figures from business and industry. Companies such as BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce are closely linked with research into knowledge management and artificial intelligence.

John came up with the idea for the institute when he was undertaking research into artificial intelligence for his PhD at Blackburn College. Concerned that the Japanese appeared to be ahead of the game, he went to talk to East Lancashire companies involved in technology-based systems.

"I was pleased to see that many of the companies were addressing the issues, but no one seemed to know what anyone else was doing," he recalled. "From that, people at different businesses decided it would be a good idea to meet the discuss issues of common interest."

A group was formed to arrange seminars and produce newsletters to help spread the message to business and industry. The Department of Trade and Industry provided funding for research projects and the initiative was on its way.

In 1995, the Institute moved to its present home where the five-strong team combine their academic work with practical support for companies. A lot of our academic research is published in journals, but most of the work is business-related," said John. "We offer companies an opportunity to get involved in academic research that can help give them credibility, which in turn can give them a competitive edge.

"One company with which we worked won a major overseas order because of its contribution to material published in an academic journal."

John conceded that the Institute was little known among the East Lancashire business community, but insisted it had a role to play.

"We cannot manage a business for them, but we can give companies access to new ideas," he said. "In terms of knowledge management, we would argue that no one can run a business properly if they do not understand their knowledge base.

"We have developed a methodology that can inform management of shortfalls in that knowledge base that can help them plan their business development."

In the area of artificial intelligence, the Institute has access to the latest research and can link companies to experts in any given field.

"Engineering companies, for example, can build more 'intelligence' into their systems to give themselves a market advantage," he added.

The Institute is now spreading its message to a wider audience and has organised its first biennial seminar which will take place in October.

Among the speakers will be Colin Cadas, knowledge manager at Rolls-Royce and Neil McKay, operations director - aerostructures at BAE Systems. Peter Unsworth, the operations director at Blackburn-based Promethean, will also speak on the importance of knowledge management to smaller companies.

But the star of the show is sure to be 'Trilobite', a robot vacuum cleaner developed by Electrolux that is probably the world's first domestic production scale robot.