Previous Fora / 2003
Speakers
Knowledge and science
Universities and Industry working together -
The need for collaboration in the development of high technology
Alec N Broers
Royal Academy of Engineering, United Kingdom
Abstract
The economic success of a modern nation depends on its ability to develop and use technology. In this talk I review the factors that were important in the evolution of the key technologies that underpinned the information and communication industries, and draw conclusions about what was important in their evolution. I believe that these conclusions may be applied more generally to other industries, especially to those based on the physical sciences, but perhaps also to those based on the chemical and biological sciences. They are less likely to apply to those that rely on computer software alone. I conclude that insight and investment are as important, or more important, than invention. I define insight as an in-depth understanding of the science that underlies a technology and the relationship of the technology to competing technologies. I also observe that almost all significant advances have involved large organisations, either the research laboratories of large industrial companies, or laboratories supported by them or by government. The latter are frequently university laboratories. It is all a matter of scale and it is rare today for fundamental advances to come from small enterprises, although small companies frequently bring advances originally made in large organisations to the market place. These small companies, which may have spun out of large companies or universities, may go on to become large enterprises, but they seldom do this unless they sustain their own research and development efforts. Ideas can emerge anywhere in the world but the successful development of these ideas into profitable products requires a critical mass of investment. Time scales are also short and competition comes from all over the world. One of the keys to success is collaboration. This can be within organisations, across nations or across the world and it is especially important that effective collaborations are established between universities and industry. The various ways in which university collaborations are funded will be reviewed. In general it is better for industry and universities to work together than it is for industry merely to fund university research. There are complications in drawing up agreements on intellectual property and it is also necessary to have what I think of as a 'membrane' between the research and the development environments. The membrane allows the ideas of the researchers to pass to the world of development and allows them to 'see' the requirements of the commercial world, but prevents the lure of product development from constraining their creativity to short term objectives. Industrial and university researchers can work together behind this membrane. Successful collaborations at Cambridge University will be used as examples.