Connecting Academia and Industry: Forms and challenges
A growing number of u1niversities are nowadays engaged in research and training for engineers. Whereas in general there are research groups in most developing universities, very few truly consider their specific environment as original grounds for research in their own right.
Most of the universities in the world are totally indifferent to the basic problematic of their own country; to be precise, they prefer the Western theories and methods only, and the Western ideas of what 'development' means.
Therefore, most of the faculties are usually reluctant to envisage an alternative though original interdisciplinary activity, but they prefer to establish competitive soft links of collaboration with their foreign counterparts, with no deep or real involvement.
Global challenges in the 21st century, especially in information studies and socio-economics, require a strong connection between academia and industry. Most papers have addressed the extent of value as well as mechanisms on that connection.
However, they rarely discuss further the challenges as well as the role of the government in it. With the increasingly serious impacts of the global economic crises of bankruptcy and unemployment, particularly the loss of confidence of the stakeholders in the industries as well as their products, the close relationship between academia and industry becomes increasingly popular in all management studies as well as the research.
Historical Background
According to Werthheimer (1938), the relationship between academia and industry has suffered ups and downs. His narrative starts in the Middle Ages, with the emergence of the first modern universities, and ends around the 1930s, a time when the university-industry divide is presented as a relatively simple dichotomy.
The hypothesis of a cyclical process indicates that in order to understand the present state of the relationships between science and society, industry and academia, it is useful to understand that this is an old relationship.
It is now clear that the industrialization of many countries was prepared by numerous interactions of one type or another between academia and industry. In semiconductors, always considered as a high-tech industry, research from academia and industry are closely related, in a partnership-like collaboration.
It should also be noted that in the present century, the organization of basic research in academia also tightly follows the industrial way as there is more orientation towards strategic targets. Charles Vest, former director of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was only repeating and amplifying an enduring fact of life in universities when he wrote that both the chair of applied mechanics and the committee on freshman physics at MIT have "two fundamental missions: to educate students and to create and transfer knowledge for the betterment of humankind."
Forms of Collaboration Between Academia and Industry
Nurturing a stronger link between academia and industry, although a non-new subject, under the present perspectives and involved audiences, is a paint shed light issue. The good-quality relationships between these alphanumeric referents of societal progress have been frequently neglected in the existent specialized literature.
The added value of our analysis is based on the deeply analytical approach as an artificial split between academia (universities and other high education institutions) and industry might appear when new forms, i.e. entrepreneurial embedding of universities which operates the transformations of academic citizenship in modern society.
Different modes for collaboration between academia and industry are possible and are often based on interdisciplinary fields of interest and/or process interaction. The "coarse" hierarchy of the existing models elaborated by Joly et al. - from market for technology, dominant intermediate position of technology transfer offices (TTOs), trade secret licensing and spin-off creation for long-standing firms, to mixed models of 'hybrid TTOs' and mixed teams working in joint laboratory, for both longstanding and new technologically intensive entrants/collaborators - is therefore an actual account and proof of different forms of synergies between the two worlds in scientific investigation.
Another mapping approach follows an R&D typology: Search (exploratory research collaboration) and transfer (production functions upgrading and scientific-investigation feedback-driven technology transfer) developed by Crépon et al.. In this survey, we have taken a different route of complementary annotation.
Benefits of Collaboration Between Academia and Industry
Collaboration between academia and industry offers several advantages for both parties. Academic institutions that receive input and support from firms partner with them, benefit from larger public funding, and themselves become more attractive by specializing and being involved in projects that may guide students into critical market niches.
Also, academic institutions that undergo research projects with industry typically increase their focus on learning and technology transfer by hiring new highly qualified staff who are more used to the business world. Additionally, by breaking these traditional barriers, academia can gain access to the tacit knowledge retained by industry professionals and company infrastructures at a low cost.
Benefits for the academic institutions
There exist different ways in which university-industry collaboration may partly affect public and private research bodies involved. Among the numerous benefits are:- Greater opportunity to practice state-of-the-art research given the more up-to-date knowledge coming from the 'action' with state-of-the-art technologies in the productive world, thus raising academic subsidies by decreasing the 'validation' costs: the researchers have readily available data;
- Increased opportunities to find spillovers from the collaboration;
- The probability of being cited increases with the extent of collaborated works and this relationship is stronger where research is basic.
Moreover, the benefits resulting from knowledge transfers between the academic and business environment can accrue to research managers in different ways.
Challenges and Barriers in Connecting Academia and Industry
To make the connection between academia and industry, several existing or to be established vehicles for interactions and partnerships may be invoked. The forthcoming section discusses them in terms of partnerships overt in their designed strategies, and refers to them, jointly, as vehicles. They are capacity building; shorter courses (customized training); internships; fellowships (scholarships); research partnerships; service, or extension, activities.
In connective activity, two forces or entities are uniting. There are, therefore, obstacles or hitches that one would expect to meet at various levels. If successfully elevated, these could potentially result in an 'openness' of systems.
However, a variety of hitches might hinder such action. These may be categorized in terms of preferences, relationships, and characteristics. Positive responses to the research revealed that academics and managers viewed the potential for interaction between the two institutions in a similar light.
They regarded language or culture as a difficulty, particularly oral communication and language constraints. Many participants complained about the lack of business experience on behalf of academics. This was not a reference to the absence of industry-based degrees, as most managers did not take this into account when knowing the academic capacity for commercial work.
Rather, it meant the academic did not know 'real life' practices and was not aware of commercial constraints and pressures. This was reflected in research defensibility and the researcher's ability to provide sound and appropriate commercial perspective in their work.
The practical accreditation of the research angle for industry benefited the project is illustrated. Effects included better access and information, increased access to business approaches and 'real world' problems, more commercial consultancy, extra funding, and additional students.
Strategies and Best Practices for Successful Collaboration
As the trends in demand and progress within the R&D area are evident, collaboration in industry cannot be sustained without the input of academia. The pervasiveness of knowledge has reached an extent where scientific input is highly valued as a basis for innovation in major industries, including pharmaceuticals and biotech. Academia remains a rich source of original and inventive ideas, and as a result, is inaccessible to many pharmaceutical companies.
Strategies for successful collaboration
Though some authors criticize the complexity and diverse nature of the cooperation between academic and pharmaceutical players, others see it as a unique tool that is capable of narrowing the gap between academic research and clinical drug development.
The following section details some of the varying aspects that could foster successful cooperation between these two major players in the healthcare sector, including the drug discovery process and the alignment of fields of interest.
For example, US and European academics working in bioprospecting face a myriad of legal challenges and legislation in order to transform their laboratory-created compounds into approved drugs offering the promised outcome.
It is this latter area where the pharma R&D divisions hold a distinct advantage – as by balancing their project management and business conducting activities, improving the regulatory and monitoring issues through cooperation, the academic and industry entities could ultimately improve and enhance the processes and success rates of drug discovery.
Academic researchers can also contribute to the statistics of drug development – identifying the eventual patient success rates, test compounds to estimate the patient response and identify new diseases – greater indeed than their industry equivalent.
Key Factors for Success
We have identified four key factors for success. First, engaging in a collaboration requires specific time and effort from both parties, which includes building and maintaining an effective working relationship, understanding the other parties' sphere of operation and way of working. It also allows for a certain "slack" that facilitates interaction.
One of the interviewees mentioned that alliances come at an opportunity cost of not doing something else. Academics should be free from too many organizational chores and have access to the resources that sustain the research for as long as it takes.
The success of alliances appears to depend on establishing lines of communication and trust between the two parties, as well as the necessity for shared objectives. The two worlds are extremely different and, therefore, what was agreed at the outset of the relationship might not actually work in practice.
Consequently, communication is perceived as the most important factor in managing successful alliances, according to Balasubramanian and Koza. Other qualities that also seem to be of high priority for managers include respect for each other, alignment of values, and respect for the ways of working. Innovation should be based on honesty, ethics, and thinking beyond personal gain.
Managers need to be credible and create a climate of learning from experience, making the enterprise courageous and adventurous, which keeps people on their toes and energized. The subsequent case was desirable in order to promote shared values and align a shared way of working, so that partners reach their full potential and share the benefits, which are essential in any successful alliance.