Research Outlet: Industry Academia Collaboration Program

In this era of new technologies emerging at an unprecedented fast pace, there is a binding need for collaboration between industry and academia. This article discusses the aspects of such alliance.

Role of Academic Institutions

Academic Institutions serve both the industry and academia by providing a workforce, as well as furnishing innovative ideas to start new businesses. Therefore, the two are analogous to two banks of a river with their own independent sides. The two banks can be connected through bridges of science and engineering disciplines to contribute to the betterment of both—the industry and institutes. Therefore, institutes have to keep the curriculum in line with the changing needs of industry. Although it is not a quick and easy process but a continuous update in the syllabus shall keep the students and teachers at par with the demand in the market.

The students learn the topics like testing, project leadership, management, professionalism and other skills within their curriculum but they can apply this knowledge practically only through experience. Some of the skills like technical writing are not even covered within academics which is taken up by those who are passionate for reading and writing about technology. This is where the collaboration with industry fills the gap. The researchers at institutes develop curriculum in line with the major problems of the industry, considering how it will help both the sides. Academia is inclusive of the fundamental industrial practices so that students can develop their skills.

Further to the contribution of institutes to a successful collaboration with industry, they play an important role in moulding the youth so that they are motivated to pursue jobs in the scope of their education. While remaining connected to the industry through collaboration programs, faculty holds the responsibility of developing the curriculum for students. They can guide the students to think and learn about the topic of their interest which are based on the problems faced by the industry. They take special interest in proactively engaging the students for working on such problems.

Role of industry

Industry plays a crucial role in disseminating knowledge and real time data to the academic institutions so that the dichotomy from characteristic differences between them is eliminated. The industry can offer better employability if a close working relationship is maintained with the academia. The resources on both sides can contribute to their maximum capabilities if the industrial problems are clearly understood and the teams work in sync to come up with solutions.

Industries connect with academic institutions to share the practical issues faced by them which require solutions. Academia can work on those problems in their own unique ways with the help of real life - real time data which they receive from industries. Theoretical standards are practically implemented in industrial environments. The industries have developed a clear understanding of the dearth of talent in the upcoming technologies and to fill the gap, they have developed their own research laboratories within their premise where they hire researchers specialized to work on problems based on specific technology.

Institutions work hand in hand with the industry to resolve industry problems by understanding their requirements, and they get insights of how the curriculum should be revamped and designed for better results for employability in future. Furthermore, while such connection boosts advancement in knowledge and practice simultaneously, the solution to problems are achieved faster and it leads to more and more boost to entrepreneurship and establishment of start ups.

 Course of Action

 The collaboration works on several aspects.

Industry Academia Collaboration Aspects & Role of the stakeholders

• Industry takes responsibility of sponsoring students who are willing to work on their problems. The sponsorship remains open for different degree programs like MTech, MTech by research, PhD, etc.
• Internship programs are introduced within the degree program where student learns about the problem segment and works around it to propose solutions within a definite time frame.
• The Company’s research scientists disseminate knowledge and work details to the students. They connect with students on regular basis along with their academic mentor.
• Academia ensures that the work progress is relevant to the industry and shares the new research through reports on newly developed models.
• Industry ensures that the students are paid stipends for their contributions.
• Industry and academia share their resources with the students, so that they can access references from current research, journals and books as well as access the real time data and reports.
• The information exchange and collaborations are monitored through committees.
• Single point of contact (SPoC) from each of the teams keeps the wheels rolling at both ends and prevent any gap in communication. Alongside the  benefits, the collaboration can face certain challenges at individual or institutional level. These would involve planning of milestones, communicating the strategy clearly, assigning roles to each stakeholder and other funding and legal aspects, and the SPoCs shall play a major role in maintaining transparency for both teams.

 How does it benefit the industry & academia?

Students get to imbibe the expertise and work behavior from the industry professionals. They obtain comprehensive understanding of working in industry. By working with faculty and industry professionals, the students can connect the theoretical approaches with their practical applications. They can perform research, deduce its practical implications and either share them with the industry or use them to take the idea of entrepreneurship to fruition.

The industry gets the benefit of cost saving. Instead of organizing training sessions for their workforce, the industry can leverage professionalism while communicating and expressing their ideas and tech problems to the students and getting fresh perspectives to the problems. With students working on their problems through sponsored degree programs and internships, the industry can significantly cut its hiring costs.

Entrepreneurship is a substantial outcome of Industry Academia Collaborations.  The stakeholders that derive this outcome are the industry liaison, clients, university, faculty and students.  The students understand the problems at hand and the work towards find solutions using their subject knowledge and guidance from faculty, and in doing so they become entrepreneurs. The solutions derived by the students for the industry motivate them to take up entrepreneurship.

The benefits of such collaborations to both the industry and the academia are evident from the programs executed at various institutes. As a boost to such initiatives from the Indian government, the union budget of 2023 states that three centers of excellence on AI will be set up in top educational institutions. This is a step forward to strengthen the collaboration between industry and academia to work on newest technologies of AI.  With more and more institutions and industries collaborating for enhanced workmanship, the programs are landing with successful entrepreneurship initiatives and have opened numerous avenues for research and exploration in line with the market demand.