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Introduction
The knowledge base of technology usually derives from basic research. It focuses on generating scientific knowledge and deals with fundamental questions of science. Nature of the environment plays a very significant role in creation and application of knowledge. Government policy plays a very significant role in establishing a national network for research, development and commercialization.Universities need funding for adopting research and development measures.
Major funding is allocated by the government and if proper funding is allocated for R&D activities, development may be hindered. But in the new trend, major part of the R& D funding is provided by the corporate involvement at Universities in the research function. Major focus of science and technology policy is on the linkage between university-based research and industry-based commercialization. The purpose of this paper is to study university industry partnerships, their advantages and disadvantages, to exemplify it with my personal experience and to form relevant conclusion on the topic.
To foster these linkages, government has established several mechanisms in all highly developed and developing countries. Several polices were adopted to promote the establishment of university companies to market University research capabilities and commercialize research results. Many of the countries focused exclusively on the flow of research results from the university to industry and critical linkages, such as regional economic development and the transfer of technology to small and medium-sized firms, are ignored.
Ensuring effective transparency should be a key part of an institutions corporate responsibilities, though on occasion there will of course be legitimate commercial or security reasons for restricting information on some activities. (Woolcock, 2008).
Changes in Technological environment may be of induced or autonomous nature. Induced changes represent the technological consequences created by social, political or economic forces. They often influence the nature and direction of technological development. Social value, directly or indirectly, influences technological development. Autonomous changes mean the changes which took place because of earlier invention.
For example invention of semiconductor and microprocessor technology have led to technological development affecting a wide variety of products, such as computers, automobiles, electronic equipment and energy control system. Advances in space-related technology frequently developed technological improvements in industrial, commercial and consumer production. Globalization has made significant changes in technological development process.
The changes involve allocation in resources, location of manufacturing firms, role of MNCs and difference in competitive advantage of nations in technology and development. The proportion of resources spent on technology development is increasing across various countries. One must expect the output of technology development efforts to correspond to the trends in R&D expenditures.
Training and development is one of the most important investments that an organization can make, and these investments frequently result in an immediate and significant return, particularly when it comes to recruiting and retention. The Corporate Partnership Initiative is designed to provide organization with a comprehensive, easily administered education plan. (Corporate Partnerships: An Innovative Approach to Executive Education, 2008).
During the first half of the twentieth century, technological development in the U.S. was a result of changes that occurred in the competitive and legal environment. In the US, the appropriation of technology has been accomplished through in-house research and development, and joint R&D were founded by two or more companies at different stages in the value chain of the industry. Joint R&D firms were involved in collective research and strategic alliances for developing appropriate technology.
Collective research organization may consist of
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Trade associations and research divisions or foundations;
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Industry associations;
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University-based centers;
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Company funded research institutes;
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Research Corporations.
Trade associations and research divisions or foundations
These groups conduct both technical and non technical activities. Example: The American Iron and steel Institute.
Industry associations
These are established to conduct research programs. The Program itself may be conducted at a University facility as in the case of Semiconductor Research Corporation or in the facility owned by university as in the case of Electric Power Research Institutes.
University-based centers
University-based centers may be either mission-oriented centers established with National Science Foundation seed money and phased in by industry or institutions established with a large portion of funds from interested companies. The University of Rhode Island Centre for Robotics is an example.
Company Funded Institutes
These organizations pursue technical advances and applications or researches related to the public welfare, and are non proprietary programs. The Sulfur Institute and the Chemical Industry Institutes of Toxicology are the examples.
Research Corporations
These are funded by a group of companies and perform both proprietary and non proprietary research that leads to companys competitiveness. Examples include Micro Electrics and Computer Technology Corporation, Eugenics and American Welding Applications Centre.
Strategic Alliances can be of three types
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Corporate Venturing.
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Joint Technology Development.
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Outsourcing.
Corporate Venturing
It involves relationship between a large company and a small company. Large company provides funding and other necessary support to the small firm to bring out innovative products. For the large firm it is an advantage to have the mechanism for flow of technology from external sources and for the small firm, it is advantage to have capital and marketing aid.
Joint Technology Development
If these two or more firms come together for a limited period of time to conduct research projects, then benefits are shared mutually. Some may bring technology expertise, other may bring marketing expertise and other may bring operating or management expertise.
Outsourcing
It is the appropriation or deployment of technology. It involves one firm contracting out some activity in technology application or marketing or deployment, for example, BPOs in India.
Many members of university communities are concerned about the increasing commercialization of their institutions. As universities become more dependent on private funds, they become increasingly subject to influence by private interests. It is possible that the academic integrity of institutions will suffer and they will waver from the path of achieving their mission. (Corman, 2000).
Corporate involvement in the universities is very helpful for students to develop their skills, knowledge and will create more innovation and development. This is one of the successful policy measures adopted by many of the highly developed and developing countries throughout the world for stimulating technological innovation. It attributes a crucial role to recruitment of talented people into the organization without any cost. It also plays an important role in providing growth for the firm and is also very beneficial to students to attain career according to their specialization.
Government formulates rules and policies to the universities and is responsible for allocating the required funds for research and development.
General Trends
Governments are finding it difficult to increase or even maintain funding of research projects of universities worldwide including the United States. The general trend is that even the general funding is now left to the education sector to raise their own funds either through philanthropic activities or corporate involvement. The ideal scenario in such a case would be a symbiotic partnership between the corporate world and the education sector. It should be possible at least in principle to form such joint ventures because corporate objectives are to strike a balance between profitability and expenditure.
It is imperative that businesses stay competitive and for that they have to invest in research and development. But on the other hand they also have a responsibility towards their shareholders to give them the best returns for their investment. One of the ways to see that this happens is to bring down expenditure across all areas including research and development, but without compromising on competitiveness.
Universities, on the other hand, need funds for financing their own academic research in accordance with their stated missions. Universities are not created for profit but with a larger vision and objective in mind. They have a responsibility towards their students and the society with the ultimate objective of producing a of talent that is qualified to work in the very same corporations that they form partnerships with. For the last two decades, corporations have been playing an increasingly important role in academic research, especially in engineering. Contributions have ranged from providing steering-type guidance to financial sponsorship.
A typical approach is an industry-membership research center located at a university; the center most often addresses a relatively well-defined problem area that is important to the members. (Ashley, 2008) According to this author, such partnerships should be encouraged, even though he warns that only engineering departments will benefit. In other words, the humanities and language departments find it impossible to forma such partnerships.
Even certain areas within engineering find that they have no corporate sponsors. The paper states that the authors own civil engineering department has no such corporate funding. This fact (departments that have no sponsors) is for information purpose only and has no direct relation to the matter at hand. It may also turn out that more and more areas will open up for such partnerships.
Coming back to the point of discussion, the author states the different forms of associations that exist now along with an ideal scenario which will be beneficial to all the parties concerned (usually, the university, the corporate house and the government). The government benefits from the fact that it needs no earmark funds for the university. The author states that there are different forms of partnerships that exist today.
The fist tie up occurred nearly fifteen years ago and was initiated by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF Engineering Research Centers and the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers function in this model the author classifies partnerships into two main groups namely Type 1 and Type 2. In Type 1, partnerships may be many-to-many or many-to-one. The former indicates that many corporations or companies fund many universities. Many-to-one indicates that several companies focus on one university.
Single companies focusing on one university is also common. An example of type 1 partnership is Construction Industry Institute (CII) at University of Texas, Austin and the Center for Integrated Facilities Engineering (CIFE) at Stanford University. Type two partnerships involve one corporation working in partnership with one university. This is usually found in the case of smaller companies who have no research division of their own and hence, can work out a mutually beneficial agreement between themselves and the university. But it should not be restricted to small organizations. A specific instance is the grant of six million USD received by the Ohio State University department of Advanced Computing Centre for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) from an IT sector company called Alias|Wavefront.
This was for purchase of the well known graphics software called Maya . The University was expected to develop new products and services for its sponsors. Ohio State has built a superior teaching and research program in computer animation and design
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