Industry and Education
Industry’s interest in education naturally lies in the need for the maximization of human brainpower. But how does one evaluate the productivity of human brainpower: with a short-term financial analysis, or with a long-term creation of curiosity, knowledge.
Downsizing has been a widely-used tool to achieve more economical, automated production lines. The management companies, who conduct these downsizing efforts and maximize the investment return, are more desirable than administrators who have technological and broad knowledge. As they have to show the effectiveness immediately, their vision is based on short-term actions.
Curiosity, broadening the knowledge is not part in today’s industry.
Decentralization is another tool from these management companies, who want to take away the power from those who have the curiosity, the broad overall view due to their background and experience. Decentralization down to business level assures that an investment in long-term research does not have the immediate return to the important investors and kills the human enthusiasm for novelty.
Market Driven Research for Quality Enhancement is money-making process in today’s industry. As a consequence from the above, market dominates the field and research and development is clearly market driven. Twenty years ago scientists created products and marketing department was established to find a market for these exciting findings. Today, the marketing specialists have technical background and they forward information to the scientists about possibilities in market expansion with improves properties. Men’s underwear has never been so elastic as it is today and lipstick allows kissing for all day due the stabilizing polymeric additives. The ideas originate from market changes, involve technology transfer concepts and leave no room for creation: the use of human characteristics: curiosity.
Market Expansion is a similar global industrial trend: the goal is immediate investment return and not visual for future research, which, done by others, may dominate the expanded market by the new products. Technology transfer is a major tool in this part along with the internationalization. We all have become like the Japanese in the 50’s: just copy others and sell.
And further globalization clearly is the future: the increased international market is based on the modern management of innovation: the processes in technological areas are complex, product cycles shorter and the sources more dispersed, thus alliances between the companies are needed. Technologies diffuse between boarders, international investment becomes necessary and external sources for expertise’s are searched. Production systems and technology developments become global especially for the commodity products.
Mission Driven Research in Government Offices shows that their trend is similar to that earlier explained for industry. Whether the research is related to defense, energy, health or space, the description is mission driven: commercially oriented, innovative research is partnership based with complex alliances. Final product is the only clear goal. The time from Vannevar Bush’s great achievements have passed, today the 18 billion R&D budget includes 9000 companies and has increased from 40 to 60% in the last twenty years.
One might conclude from of the above that there is not anything fundamental anymore to investigate: But the earlier example, Global Warming, is a good one to analyze. Earth’s climate is too vast and complex for an accurate analysis, but an obvious fact still is that the chemistry of atmosphere is changing. It all keeps having an increasing influence on our agriculture and possible other areas. One source for this is the use of fossil fuel and the past meeting only focused in the regulation of the past, the meeting did not touch alternative methods without byproducts: fuel cells, biomass/ethanol, hydrogen storage, enzymatic production of hydrogen and nuclear waste. But the present trend is not to respect fundamental science, not to invest in long-term future processes, while others, like Japan and European Community, are increasingly establishing interdisciplinary research programs for fundamental research.
Research-based universities, the American fame, have faced maximum competition: state universities are increasing their quality, high tuition in private universities will not be well justified, especially as the salary-differences are increasing and the middle/lower class will face lower and lower income levels. Thus we should focus on national education: continue our immigration-based success, but now based intramigration, utilization the human power from our own resources.
And the competition gets global. Industry has contacted professors, who may be our former students, in the overseas countries and conducts research with them: They need maximum return on their specialists needs, and it is also cheaper, possible with modern electronic communication, and easier to control than the demanding American Professors.
Government follows: grants are given based on the specific expertise, and not on the geographic location. The budget though has been based on the US demands without knowing that in Japan, tuition and scholarship are paid by the parents, and thus the Japanese professors can travel in first class to US-meetings on the expense of US government. Globalization is the word.
Lester Thurow predicts (The Future of Capitalism, Penguin Book) that American Industry will employ foreigners, as students from former communist countries, as these students are cheaper, have broad education and wide career expectations. And American students have started to go to Europe and other foreign countries as the tuition is lower and stipends are available (New York Times, November 1997).
How strong are we? From 1975 to 1995, in twenty years the number of academic patenting offices has increased from 25 to 200. The number of patents similarly from 177 to 1500, and the capital to 300$mill (although 70% in CA in 5 patents). In addition USA is still the leader in innovation covering >50% of the international patents.
Chemicals are the keystone in US manufacturing, essential building block for food, shelter, clothing, health, transportation. US production has grown in 20 years from 330 to 749 billion dollars (16% foreign) and to >$100 billion abroad. Foreign market is the revenue of future, commodity products are first global, as specialty chemicals still dominate in USA.
Federal Funding in Chemical Sciences is still $300 millions, which is internationally the largest amount, and as high quality does not respect volume we should not complain. A 5% decrease in individual funding would neither affect the high quality research.
The problems with the dominant American industry, the large Government Laboratories and the special SBIR programs should be able to support us if only we maintain the high quality. Obviously number of publications is not anymore the only measure of quality.
We have to keep doing our main responsibility: to serve the society: We have to train workforce with knowledge based skills in a way which satisfies our industry.
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