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BUILDING EFFECTIVE INDUSTRY LINKAGE FOR THE
ICT EDUCATIONFokhruz Zaman
23rd February, 2012BASIS SoftExpo, 2012
• Why ICT Education?1• Why Effective Industry Linkage?2• What are our current challenges?3• How can we harness the Industry,
Academia, and Government?4• Next Steps...5
Today’s Overview
ICT Education?
• Knowledge and skills around computing and communications devices,
• Software, that operates them,
• Applications that run on them and systems that are built with them
ICT Education
ICT / Digital Literacy
ICT Infrastructure & Support –
Applied Technologists
Specialized Business and Industry Uses
of ICT
ICT Research and Development
Scientists
On-the-Job Learning in the Industry
Time Spent
Why Effective Industry Linkage?
Road Towards Mastery ….
Time Spent
Proj
ects
Wor
ked
On
Start Small and Simple
Achieve Mastery
Working Toward Mastery
Get Experience
d
What are our current challenges?--- From University Perspective• Requests presented to universities (by SMEs) tend to
be vague• SMEs desire tangible results in a short period of time• SMEs display a low level of understanding with regard
to the position of universities and academics• Independence is lacking in terms of business execution• SMEs are often not accustomed to the handling of
contracts and intellectual property• Insufficient financing
What are our current challenges?--- From SME Perspective• It is difficult to obtain information on the collaborating
researchers• There is a certain ambiguity regarding university
organizational structure rules• The pace of R&D is slow• There is a difference in perspectives regarding the issue
of R&D costs• Advice cannot be obtained in relation to putting things
on a business footing• It is not possible to obtain information on subsidy
programs
Many barriers among Industry, Academia and Government…• Industry, by nature, tends to be fragmented. Industry liaison groups
may have only a lose hold at best on membership and likely have their own objectives and expectations that are not the same as those of the government.
• Shifting membership, coupled with short-term unpaid board members, tends to result in poor organizational memory and interest.
• Board members are also executives who work full time at other industry based paid jobs and tend to get transferred or easily lose interest.
• A perennial concern is difficulty in understanding academics.
Many barriers among Industry, Academia and Government…• Academia as represented through universities is generally
not flexible enough when dealing with collaborative projects and typically presents additional levels of bureaucracy and policies that stifle innovation.
• Further, academia does not lend itself to a good ICT development environment.
• The generally creative (though sometimes undisciplined) nature of the employees often results in their being good at prototyping but unable to delivery tested products.
• Ability to sustain products is also difficult as academics have a propensity to change direction.
Many barriers among Industry, Academia and Government…
• Government is often too slow and inflexible to deal well with academic and industry collaboration as it is often not entrepreneurial by nature and beset by monster bureaucracies.
Tons of reporting requirements and little ICT domain knowledge further exacerbate collaboration.
Personnel are often not the best and brightest, funding delays are commonplace and examples of overly controlling are legion.
How to harness…?• Government funding is a great attraction to both
academics and industry associations.
• In reality, government is already paying for the academics through university employment and support for facilities.
• Academia in the contexts of universities clearly has the research capability and motivation, as well as experience, in delivering educational benefits through courses and workshops to large segments of a population.
How to harness…?• Importantly, academia provides a neutral environment to
bring diverse people together. Further, academia is able (and likes) to explore concepts that are too risky for business.
• Finally, there is plenty of cheap smart labor available in academic settings as students seek to learn and gain experience.
• Ultimately, academia has a responsibility to interact with and support the community at large, i.e., in line with the origins of “service.”
How to harness…?• Industry is the engine that creates the tax base for
government revenues and provides the general economic viability of a community, city and country.
• Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are a special aspect of industry that account for the vast majority of businesses around the world.
• Unfortunately, SMEs typically do not have the scarce resources (either in people or money) necessary to explore concepts and remove uncertainties beyond day to day survival.
Next Steps…
• Let us define the ICT Education challenges– Technological as well as cultural
• Let us set realistic expectations– Mastery is not achieved overnight
• Let us keep our eye on the goal– Mentorship programs– Appropriate ICT Education with F/OSS– Crowdsourcing and co-creation
Acknowledgments
• http://www.iiitd.edu.in/~jalote/GenArticles/IndAcadCollab.pdf
• http://www.well.com/user/mb/docs/AICCollaboration.pdf• http://
www.nyas.org/publications/ebriefings/Detail.aspx?cid=a937b74a-a986-4bff-9633-9afd6d046e85
• http://web.mit.edu/ipc/publications/pdf/05-010.pdf• www.ncrr.nih.gov/research.../Collaboration_RCMI2006.pdf• http://kmap2005.vuw.ac.nz/papers/Govt,%20Academia,%
20Industry%20Collaboration.pdf• http://www.ai-blog.net/archives/000135.html• http://www.isbc2007.org/isbc/upload/4623.pdf
THANK YOU SO MUCH