Industry and Higher Education

For almost three decades we have optimized our organizations for efficiency and quality. We now look to innovation as the source of competitive advantage – for individuals, for organizations and for society This paper examines the three components of an innovation ecosystem and their implications for corporations, universities and public policy To be successful, organizations must develop an explicit innovation process, build an organizational culture that rewards innovative behaviours and practices, and attract, train and promote employees with the skill sets to perform new roles and responsibilities.

Over the last two decades, Ireland has proactively marketed its educated workforce, its favourable corporate tax rates, membership of the European common market, and other advantages, to multinational technology corporations. The resulting foreign direct investment in high-tech manufacturing operations has driven a booming Irish economy that has come to be characterized as the ‘Celtic Tiger’. Today, however, Ireland is looking to the research and development sector to drive future growth. Competition from low-wage economies, such as those of Eastern Europe, India and China, threatens Ireland's position as a low-cost, high-tech manufacturing base. Across government, industry and the higher education sectors, Ireland is now focused on fashioning an ecosystem of research and innovation that can guarantee its continued prosperity.

In the late 1990s the Singapore government embarked on a set of far-reaching strategies intended to develop the city-state into one of the major life science R&D and industrial clusters in Asia. Besides efforts to attract leading overseas life science companies to establish operations in Singapore, the government has developed new life science public research institutions to attract overseas research talents. Outside the government, the local university sector is also emerging as an important player. Adapting the ‘Triple Helix’ framework to the life sciences in a newly industrialized economy, this paper reviews the policies and programmes implemented by the Singapore government and the National University of Singapore and discusses the implications for universities in other late-comer countries seeking to catch up in the global biotech race.

This presentation of the innovation-driven environment in Colombia derives from important national efforts to gather and store pertinent information. Two large surveys have tested the ‘innovative behaviour’ of Colombian manufacturing firms – the more recent of these was in 2005. Another information source is the Scienti platform, an online effort to collect and store information about research and researchers nationwide. Finally there is the SNIES, the national higher education information system which inventories curricula, admission criteria, study costs, physical resources, research activities, teachers and students of all institutions of higher education in the country. Although all of these instruments have their problems and are still in their consolidation phases, they constitute an invaluable asset for the country's scientific policy making.

This paper describes how New Zealand's leading research university, the University of Auckland, dealt with the issue of transforming knowledge into wealth using a ‘whole of institution’ approach. The context of New Zealand's growth and innovation initiatives is outlined and the University of Auckland's engagement with and institutional response to these initiatives are discussed. The initiatives include the joint government–private-sector funding of a ‘partnership for excellence’ programme; programmes to create a culture of enterprise, innovation and entrepreneurship; the use of entrepreneurs-in-residence; the development of new boundary-spanning structures and organizations; the melding of new approaches with existing technology transfer structures; and the creation of new networks. Key lessons learned throughout the process are described.

In about twenty years, starting in 1984, Bangalore has become the fourth best ‘Global Hub of Technological Innovation’, according to Business Week. This article reviews the major milestones in Bangalore's development and the interactive roles of government, universities and private entrepreneurs. The author offers a new model: innovation is not a state but a process, comparable to the chemical process of crystal formation and growth.

The Science Based Business (SBB) programme was established at Leiden University in 2001 in an effort to counter the unidirectional professionalism of students in science studies – not explicitly to meet the needs of business and industry. Nor is SBB a stand-alone Master's programme like the MS/MBA or the PSM in the USA: rather, it is designed to be an elective in all Leiden's research Master's programmes. It attracts both those students who want to stay on to study for a PhD and those who seek an occupation outside fundamental research. Especially pertinent to building capacity for innovation is the new course, ‘Orientation on Technopreneurship’, which is taught alongside the SBB programme. Because career opportunities for SBB and OOT graduates are diverse, the organizers have avoided an industry-specific focus in both cases.

The Professional Science Master's (PSM) degree is a creative addition to US graduate education, expressly to support innovation and workforce development in a globally competitive economy. Initiated in the 1990s with funding from two US private foundations, there is still a question as to whether universities will sustain it beyond the start-up phase. The degree is designed to prepare graduates for professional employment in which a combination of technical and management functions come together. PSM programmes combine solid advanced science/mathematics, a working knowledge of business principles, experience working in interdisciplinary groups and high-level communication and technical skills, capped by internships in business, government and industry.

Dual degree programmes are becoming increasingly common at universities, especially in the USA. A dual degree programme at the University of Arizona now includes the additional and systematic study of the critical field of entrepreneurship by students studying for dual degree qualifications in business and science or engineering. All participants in the programme undertake formal studies and training in entrepreneurship, leading to the award of a certificate. Thus the programme offers students the opportunity to acquire a regular MBA degree, another Master's degree in a specific domain of science or technology and a certificate in entrepreneurship, all in under two years.