Industry and Higher Education

On the occasion of the formation of the European University-Industry Forum, the director of the US Business-Higher Education Forum reflects on lessons learned about business-academic alliances during the first ten years of the American Forum's experiment in collaboration.

This paper presents some personal views of the author on management education and on the education of engineers and technologists. It looks at the relationship between education and training for these two groups. It describes a need for action in the provision of management education and proposes an experimental centre to undertake the kind of education that is beyond the means of engineering departments and business schools.

The identification through a ‘technology audit’ of ‘Background Intellectual Property’ upon which application development programmes can be based, may provide academic institutions with the possibility of generating research income from industrial collaboration whilst retaining the ownership of the technology upon which the application development is based. Not only is the more traditional role of the academic institution as a teaching/research organization maintained, but income from exploitation of the application development might be reasonably expected to augment future income.

Gorbachev inherited a higher education system starved of resources. However, under the major programme of reform that he has instituted to modernize the Soviet higher education system, the authorities after years of inaction now have a keen appreciation of the vital importance of higher education to the general Perestroika process. They are showing a willingness to adopt new ideas and an openness to the experience of the West. Many initiatives for links with industry have their direct parallels in the West, and it is possible that science parks may be established in the near future.

The Center for Advanced Food Technology (CAFT) was created out of one man's belief that the commercialization of new scientific discoveries contributes substantially to economic growth. It was established to work with, rather than just for, its industrial partners as a catalyst between industrial practicalities and scientific knowledge. This article describes how CAFT was established, and details the way it operates. It then progresses to a discussion of the general lessons taught by the CAFT experience concerning the effective coupling of advanced academic research to more effective performance in the marketplace.

The British Technology Group, an organization at the forefront of technology transfer, has recently concluded another highly successful year with expansion in all areas of its business. The key to this is the combination and breadth of technical, commercial, patenting and legal skills which are encompassed in a single organization. The group has recently taken a number of initiatives to license its total portfolio of inventions more widely internationally as well as promoting new areas of business, all directed at consolidating its position as the leading technology transfer organization in the world.

For industry to remain competitive in the marketplace, it is essential to use research and developing technology to the fullest extent in developing new products and improving existing products. Both new technology and new markets must be developed. Corporations may perform research and development in-house or avail themselves of the technology developed by universities and other institutions described in published papers and reports. To be successful new product introduction must be carefully planned and take advantage of emerging needs and the unique capabilities of the marketing organization.

This paper discusses some of the attitudes of academics to industry as seen over the time period of 1968–88, and indicates some of the recent changes which have taken place. A recommendation made in an inaugural lecture in 1968 that greater coupling of basic science into the industrial world should occur has been put into practice with the creation of a new bioscience company -Biocompatibles Limited. This new company is situated at the new Brunel University Science Park.

The future place that the European community attains in the international high-technology markets will greatly depend on whether it is capable of properly mobilizing and marketing its relevant scientific and technological resources, including those emanating from its higher education (HE) sector.

For decades, US industry and academic institutions have formed special relationships, borne out of their mutual dependencies. For the most part, these relationships have been arms-length ones — companies have helped to finance new facilities, scholarships or faculty positions at universities, and universities have trained and developed professional staff for industry. Most major universities have well established programmes for industrial liaison, and similarly most major companies have established university-relations programmes.

During the past decade or so, a number of factors have conspired together to ensure that the universities in the UK have increasingly had to pay regard to the intellectual property (IP) created on-campus. The idea of the systematic commercial exploitation of commercially applicable university research is something many academics still do not find congenial — indeed, some think it incompatible with the tradition of scholarship and the free interchange of knowledge and ideas.

The last decade has seen the emergence and growth in this country, and elsewhere, of science parks. In 1984 the United Kingdom Science Park Association (UKSPA) was set up with eight founder members. The mushrooming that followed meant that by 1986 the Association could report 28 fully operated parks, seven others under construction and a number of Associate Members, of which Reading University was one.

This calendar of events is based on information provided by the respective organizers and from secondary sources. INDUSTRY & HIGHER EDUCATION welcomes information on meetings suitable for listing in this section. Copy deadlines are three months ahead of cover dates. An asterisk denotes a new entry.