Importance of Collaboration Between Academia & Industry For the Future of Construction Research (PART 2)

1. Types of Academic/Industrial Collaboration - Two appropriate models; Continuing Education, Research

2. One of the core competencies of academic institutions is teaching. Many institutes engaged in education at the high end, have the courseware and ability to provide training for high-end manpower development. Therefore, a natural collaboration possibility is for the academic faculty and institutes to conduct training in topics of interest for industry. This model has existed for a long time and is reasonably well understood. This form of relationship is also beneficial to both.

3. Today in the world driven by Intellectual Property, there is an increased interest in collaboration in the area of research. For the purposes of our discussion, research can be considered as the activity of creating new knowledge. Though academicians in most good institutes engage in research, collaboration in this area is possible only if the industry has a need for research. Though the goal of research is to create new knowledge, the purpose of research in a company is to create new knowledge that can be used to improve the business.

4. Even a services company can benefit from research, particularly if it is a large player.
Research can enhance the ability of a company to adapt to changes and the readiness for absorbing changes and management practices. It can also help the company build a leadership position in leveraging management practices for offering higher value.Research can help service the constant demand for improvement, quality, lowering costs, and creating more value.
It can also help develop new approaches for solving problems, Besides these company-specific reasons, there is a general industry-wide reason as well for increasing research in companies.

5. So, there is a natural synergy between the academic and the industry researcher – academician can lend the conceptualization and generalization skills and the industry can provide the practical reality in which the conceptualization can be rooted.
What both sides have to realize is that bringing the two together requires a great deal of solid interaction as communication gaps exist. There is no easy way to bridge this gap – both sides must simply spend time together to understand each others context and develop a common language.

6. Industry often looks for “consultants” in academic community – basically experts who can guide them in solving their problems. This model assumes that the academic is already working on those problems. This is often not the case. Only after considerable time together can common issues be identified which may be addressable by joint research. Hence a main hurdle today is lack of structures and mechanisms to have researchers from two sides spend time together.

7) Proactively seeking opportunities for industrial collaboration at all levels Acknowledgement of the benefits to students, staff and the Institution as a whole. Resistance – “we are teaching establishments”, “we are too busy” Rewarding successful academics for engaging in this endeavour (counts towards promotion)

8) Government support is there. Attitudes in the construction industry may need to be changed
Academics need to be more proactive. Universities should recognise and reward collaborative activities. It’s all about “delivery”. What is the “shared vision” for construction collaboration with academia?