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