QBO has won its first major account since the takeover by Lord Bell's Chime Communications (PRWeek, 10 November) - a campaign for the Department of Trade and Industry.
The work, understood to carry fees in the region of pounds 200,000, aims to encourage major UK corporations to turn university research into money-spinning ideas.
The brief for STOP - the Software Technology Outreach Programme - was awarded following a four-way pitch last month. It follows the publication earlier this year of the Government's Science and Innovation White Paper, which urged university researchers to work on projects of practical benefit to society.
QBO's account will be headed by board director Alister Martin and overseen by the agency's chairman Trevor Morris.
The core of the campaign is a series of 20 seminars bringing together IT and computer science researchers with backers from a range of blue-chip FTSE 100 companies.
QBO will handle all the PR surrounding this development.
'The DTi believes that up to 5,000 potentially profitable IT ideas are missed every year because businesses don't know about software development work being done by academics,' said Morris.
'Academic software researchers are discovering things that can be used for everything from stopping car crime to improving the effectiveness of hospital operations,' he added.
QBO's work for the DTi reports to Ray Browne of the department's Communications and Information Industries Directorate. The agency will work closely with the DTi press office, even though Browne is an official rather than a PRO.
