www.Hexagon-Innovating.com
"Lack of scientific R&D funding will leave Canada in the dust" - A role for academic collaboration?8/15/2014 In today's Globe and Mail newspaper (1/Aug/2014), economist Todd Hirsh wrote an article with the aforementioned title. See https://secure.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/gam/20140801/RBELHIRSCH#
In his article, he points out that R&D is critical as it drives innovation, which in turn is important for economic growth. In addition, he references OECD data indicating that Canada lags most other wealthy nations on R&D spending at 1.74% of GDP. Much of this R&D is of course done at institutions of higher learning. Perhaps most importantly, Canadian businesses only provide 8.1% of these university/college/ hospital research funding or $343/ person. This got me thinking as to why in general Canadian firms don't carry out much (enough?) research and especially why they don't collaborate with and fund university/college/ hospital research. The three things that hold back research efforts are fears relating to: the cost, the risk, and the potential return. Cost involves both management time and focus, and of course money. The risk or probability of success is a function of not only the inherent risk based on the novelty of the task or goal but also on the technical skills, the management skills and the experience of the team. Finally, the return or resulting value depends on the customer, market and competition. These fears are real but are also manageable (More on this in a future blog). It also should not be forgotten that doing nothing, that is staying with the status quo, also can bring significant costs, risks and negatively impact returns (think Blackberry, Blockbuster, Kodak to name just a few). Collaborating on R&D projects with institutions of higher learning can lower costs through leveraging government support, obtaining access to specialized equipment, and in some cases employing student labour. Collaborating with academics can also provide one with insights into the market and especially competitive activities. But most importantly, such collaborations give a firm access to unique academic expertise, creativity, and research skills and methodologies that can significantly increase the probability of commercial success. So why is there not more industry-academia collaboration? I believe this is a result of a fourth fear: dealing with academics and academic institutions. This fear is also manageable and is achieved through understanding, communication, and managing expectations. This fear relates to the academic culture or style, academic time and focus, and administration as follows: First as far as culture is concerned, academia is founded on the security of academic freedom which encourages risk-taking and speaking one's mind from which we all (i.e. society) benefit. As a result, academics are in effect independent operators with no boss or supervisor and a guaranteed salary. Academics in the sciences and technology, especially the best, are also well-funded to carry out their research by a variety of government programs, charitable foundations and in a some cases industrial partners often concurrently. This significantly shifts their work motivation away from one of financial need towards one of interest and challenge. Hence academics need to be courted with interesting projects and open, potentially long-term collaborations as opposed to be pressed as is often the case in business customer to supplier, and boss to subordinate relations. On the matter of academic time and focus, as already mentioned academics tend to have a number of projects on the go, in addition to graduate student responsibilities (the manpower behind much of the research) and of course teaching. These activities can not be just put aside, in order to focus solely on your project. Hence timelines and access to academics must be prudently negotiated to ensure their are no disappointments or surprises. Finally, academic administration can at times seem burdensome. In addition to academic freedom issues especially as they relate to publication (remember the academic mantra of "Publish or Perish), issues of intellectual property ownership, royalties, using students, and funding support for departmental overheads, among other things, always arise. By understanding the institution's role, goals, policies and limits, much of which can be outlined while working with each institution's technology transfer (or industrial liaison) office, while conveying your business needs, will result in smooth and fruitful negotiations. Given that we have some of the best academic research and researchers in the world (by a variety of measures), Canadian companies need to learn to better manage and in doing so overcome their fears of cost, risk, potential return and especially academics. By leveraging this local academic talent and collaborating on R&D projects, incredible breakthrough innovations can arise. Duncan Jones, principal of www.Hexagon-Innovating.com, works for you and your team to facilitate and optimize your innovation efforts. He has experience establishing and managing industry-academic partnerships, having worked on both sides of these partnerships in- and out-licensing technologies, in addition to funding and supporting academic founders when he was an early-stage venture capitalist.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDuncan Jones Archives
June 2024
Categories |