Speeches
Posted 6 May 2011
The Role of Higher Education Institutions in Promoting Innovation and Knowledge Intensive Services
BMW Regional Assembly Annual Conference
6 May 2011
Mayor Buckley-Byrne, Cathaoirleach, colleagues, visitors to Athlone, I am delighted to have this opportunity to address you this morning.
‘Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.’ That was the view of President John F. Kennedy, and it is a perspective which serves as a useful reminder of the multifaceted role that higher education institutions play in contemporary society. Rarely has there been such a focus on tertiary education as in the present time. Higher education is seen as being an agent for change, a transformational force. The evidence is everywhere on our campuses, with a highly diverse learner population and packed lecture theatres proof of the rush to third level.
Indeed the very diversity of the learner population is in itself contributing to the formation experience of our students. The contribution of mature students is particularly noteworthy, in terms of how they share their own experience with classmates, and marry those life skills to the knowledge they are acquiring in lectures and tutorials. Similarly, the access agenda which has been vigorously pursued within the BMW region by all of the HEIs, has seen the benefits of a third level education shared across the social class divides.
Such developments bode well for the future growth of our smart economy through the provision of well-educated knowledge workers who are capable of applying technology, talent and capital in new ways, with deep analytical skills and the ability to manage ambiguity.
Traditionally, the BMW region was under-represented in terms of the knowledge profile of its people. The legacy of a focus on traditional industries meant that fewer numbers of school leavers progressed to higher education. That situation is rapidly changing and evidence of the growth of the knowledge class is apparent from this survey of knowledge intensive services in the region. It is worth noting that of the private KISs surveyed for this report, graduates comprised 78% of their employees, and more than half employed exclusively graduates.
Highly qualified, motivated, flexible graduates are but one output of third level colleges, however. Institutions of higher learning must collaborate with industry and government to create a climate and culture that enable innovation to thrive. This role was given impetus at a European level in the aftermath of the Lisbon Strategy and today the triangle of education, research and innovation is broadly accepted. Even in the wake of the strategy launch in 2000, it was acknowledged that while Europe is very good at creating high-level knowledge, it is less successful in transforming those knowledge outputs into new socio-economic benefits. In order to make a difference, knowledge has to be applied and transferred to those who will turn it into new opportunities for business and society. This led therefore to a mid-decade re-launch, this time focusing on a growth and jobs agenda.
In an Irish context too, we have had an outpouring of strategy documents and reports stating the message that promoting innovation is the principal means of economic growth. Most recently, the National Strategy for Higher Education has reiterated that a strong engagement between higher education and enterprise has ‘the potential to play a vital role in enhancing Ireland’s economic competitiveness’. Innovation, the Hunt Report states, must be the ‘driving force behind such engagement: innovation in teaching, learning and research from higher education; and innovation in taking advantage of learning opportunities from the business community’.
At an institutional level, the strategic plans of the various HEIs in this border, midlands and western region each highlight R&D, innovation and knowledge transfer as being core business. What shines through the various objectives is a desire to support regional growth, to encourage collaboration within and without higher education, to generate a commercial return from R&D, and to have research-informed teaching. Such ambitions have also been given expression through initiatives undertaken by Líonra, for example, where a collective approach to R&D in the region has been articulated.
For AIT’s part, strengthening research capacity and capability is one of four strategic pillars which will guide the development of the institute over the coming years. Framed against the backdrop of the boom years, these objectives are, if anything, even more pertinent in the current economic environment. The Athlone strategic plan is rooted in the needs of this region; needs which were identified in the Indecon report for the Midlands Gateway and in various BMW Regional Assembly reports. It was also drafted in concert with multinational and indigenous companies in the region, underscoring the partnership role which the institute has long enjoyed with industry.
At a sectoral level, the Education in Employment project is an example of national best practice involving NUIG and the five institutes of technology in the region. One of the initiatives that has flowed from this SIF 2 project is the Roadmap for Employer-Academic Partnership, referred to sometimes as REAP. The initiative focused on five major areas:
1. Cooperative work placement;
2. Specialist targeted course development to meet specific enterprise learning needs;
3. Professional postgraduate pathways;
4. Academics and researchers contributing within enterprises; and
5. Professionals within enterprises contributing in the academic environment.
One practical example of innovative practice through partnership with industry has been the development of AIT’s Postgraduate Steps programme in the social care discipline. This is a market-driven new approach to postgraduate education that recognises that people’s educational needs are diverse. Postgraduate Steps enables learners to undertake modules that address their professional development needs, in a fashion that suits diverse lifestyles. This has resulted in the development of a series of postgraduate special purpose awards that afford opportunity for greater specialisation and upskilling. These awards may ultimately lead to the awarding of a master’s degree.
Work-based learning too has grown across all of the HEI stakeholders. Examples of existing and current WBL relationships with regional and national stakeholders include delivery of a higher certificate business programme to regional leaders such as Bord na Móna, and delivery of business and leadership development programmes to multinational companies in the region.
Allied to such activity, is a strong commitment in all of the colleges to new enterprise development and industry collaboration. An ambitious target of AIT’s strategic plan, for example, is for 70% of research to be characterised by industry collaboration.
The regional dimension is underscored through AIT’s commitment to play a catalytic role in the Midlands in terms of its economic, social, cultural and environmental development. Amongst the targets identified were for the institute to act as a catalyst to develop a world-class knowledge-based competitive gateway by focusing on applied research initiatives with industry. A number of research areas were identified, namely medical technology, pharmaceutical science, health and life sciences, ICT, engineering and the humanities. Central to the achievement of this objective is cooperation with the various development agencies, many of which are represented here today.
Three years into AIT’s plan, how are these high level objectives being realised? In particular, how are they contributing to promoting innovation and knowledge intensive services?
One outcome of the strategic plan was the establishment of a joint IDA-AIT team to strengthen and embed R&D activities within IDA client companies. An assessment of industry R&D infrastructure requirements in the region identified a strong need for scanning electron microscopy for medical device and pharma and biopharma companies. The SEM, a Raman confocal microscope, as well as other elements of an AIT-Midlands imaging platform, are now a key part of AIT’s offering to industry through the research hub and the Midlands Innovation and Research Centre.
This audit of the innovation systems in the BMW region recognises the central role that campus incubation centres play in supporting knowledge transfer and innovation activities. While there are variations in focus across the seven HEIs, there is a common mission to provide access to central services, networking opportunities, mentoring, as well as high-tech accommodation. The innovation centres frequently operate at the nexus of industry-academic engagement and may act as a liaison point between the entrepreneur or company and the colleges’ wider suite of research and business expertise.
At AIT, for instance, the MIRC provides incubation facilities for innovative and knowledge-based enterprises, an enterprise programme for entrepreneurs, as well as access to the resources and expertise of the institute to support client companies.
It is significant to note, however, that relative to other regions the Midlands has underperformed in generating new high growth knowledge-based export-focused businesses. The scale of that underperformance is of the order of 40% in terms of HPSU generation on a per capita basis.
Of equal significance is the fact that the Midlands has been underprovided for in terms of knowledge-based enterprise infrastructure relative to all other regions of Ireland. While all of the other regions have a number and range of infrastructure providers for knowledge-based start-ups, the MIRC is the only such facility in the Midlands. This is the case, even within the BMW region itself, with the Border region for example having nearly six times as much knowledge-based incubation space per capita as the Midlands.
I hasten to add though that there are positives to be relayed. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report for Ireland finds that the Midlands, with the Mid-East region, has the highest rate of nascent entrepreneurs of any region at 5.7%. Furthermore, the rate of early stage entrepreneurial activity by women in the Midlands at 7.2% is the highest in the country. The level of self-belief is very high with more than half of individuals in the Midlands confident in their ability to start and successfully run a new business. The perception of opportunity at 46% is the second highest of the regions and fear of failure as an inhibitor to entrepreneurial activity is very low at one-third. Such metrics offer hope for the future.
In order for AIT to extend its support for innovation and knowledge intensive services, investment in facilities and campus infrastructure is a prerequisite. In this regard, plans for a Midlands Research and Innovation Campus represent a significant and concerted response from AIT, regional partners and national agencies towards building regional competitiveness and innovation capacity. Plans for the campus include biomedical translational research infrastructure, along with high-tech company research incubator facilities and an innovation centre.
Such an expansion in scale in the innovation centre at AIT is one of the recommendations of the report launched here this morning. It will be more than necessary if Athlone is to play its part in meeting the government’s target to increase the number of HPSUs to 355 over the next three years. This 50% increase on current performance highlights the scale of the task which lies ahead and, more particularly, the crucial role which higher education providers will play in driving the jobs creation agenda.
For me, this is where higher education can play a key role in supporting an innovation culture and in encouraging greater numbers of people to start their own business. It is not just about being an enthusiastic cheerleader, however, but in providing access to expertise, to research resources, to business acumen, to support and mentoring networks, and to a community of innovative thinkers.
We will hear in a little while from one such start-up businessperson, Ann-Marie Durkan, whose company Shasta is an exemplar of an excellent business idea combined with product innovation, achieving success in accessing domestic and international markets.
There are many others too, and it’s worth reciting some of the details, even just to showcase the excellent collaborative work between higher education institutes and industry that is underway. SolanoTech, which is based in the MIRC and works extensively with the institute’s Software Research Institute, is a telecommunication services and solutions provider that helps clients gain a business advantage through technological innovation such as IPTV.
Tuam-based company Transitions Optical creates eyewear solutions that respond to sunlight conditions. Their research with the Materials Research Institute centred on improving the process and materials used in the manufacture of photochromic lenses. The research, which was funded by Enterprise Ireland, resulted in the development of a new-to-the-world product, as well giving rise to a PhD project.
As noted in this report, the example of foreign direct investment in R&D and innovation projects is an encouraging one for the BMW region. It demonstrates the potential for FDI to contribute towards development of its innovation system. Japanese multinational Freund Pharmatec, for instance, is engaged with AIT in a collaborative research project to develop a commercially viable drug release system. The project, which is part-funded by Enterprise Ireland, has the potential to make treatment of patients more effective and reduce unpleasant side effects.
These cases are just a snapshot of some of the activities that typify business-academic partnerships in this region. The full spectrum obviously ranges from knowledge transfer and the creation of joint research projects, through to the development and provision of education and training for employees, and consulting services.
When we talk about an innovation culture, it is also worth pointing out as Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, does that the ‘academic culture is not outcome-driven and instead values knowledge for its own sake’. Within the institutes of technology, for example, the principal focus is often on teaching and learning. This is not to deny the industry focus of the applied research that is undertaken; the difficulty is however that it is not sufficiently diffused within the ITs. While academics in universities spend a greater proportion of their time engaged in research, it may not always be with a view to technology transfer.
There are undoubtedly innovative solutions to these issues and the Hunt Report highlights novel ways of linking higher education research and innovation capacity to the needs of the public and private sectors. One suggestion is for staff to be facilitated to move between higher education and the enterprise and public sectors. Such movement would benefit both sides: industry and the public sector would benefit from the new knowledge and theoretical understanding developed in the education and research system, education would benefit from the practical know-how and constraints experienced by the enterprise and the public sectors.
The Innovation Taskforce too proposed a programme to facilitate academics who wish to provide their expertise to innovative companies through secondments for up to six months at a time. It is worth pointing out that a similar proposal to expand industry secondments through student placements, industry participation in teaching programmes and staff secondments to industry is also a feature of AIT’s strategic plan. While progress has been made in making such ideas a reality, more remains to be done.
The benefits from such cooperation between education and industry stakeholders at undergraduate, postgraduate and faculty development level are manifold. While short-term gains will undoubtedly accrue in terms of academic programmes that are rooted in the needs of business, in the long run such initiatives will support the viability of the innovation ecosystem in this country.
At a recent OECD conference on the role of HEIs in regional development, Susan Christopherson, a professor from Cornell University, was critical of the US technology transfer model. While the American approach creates some patents and makes a handful of universities rich, she said, ultimately it does not create a significant number of jobs and businesses. This is valuable advice from one who has immediate experience of the American model. I suspect that Ireland has had its fill of the elites becoming wealthy, while the majority looks on.
Knowledge exploitation by technology transfer will only have a long run impact on economic development if the skills and community agenda are also addressed. Such a holistic perspective on the needs of the wider society points to the requirement for a corporate response from higher education institutions as key players in civil society. It is such an approach that underlies the catalytic role that HEIs play in promoting innovation.
Our institutes of technology and universities have a noble tradition of contributing to the common good; rarely has their role been so crucial to the future of the nation.
Thank you.
