Academia-Industry Linkage

Introduction

Key challenges in Pakistans economic development are weak links between

centers of science and technology and the production sector. The industry
lacks faith in academia and prefers to look outside Pakistan for
development. Pakistan ranks at 98 among 140 countries in the world on
academia-industry collaboration measured by the Global Competitiveness
Report 2015-2016 of the World Economic Forum.

Need to Bridge Academia-Industry Gap

Though universities and industry in the developed world have been

collaborating for over a century, but the rise of a global knowledge economy
has intensified the need for strategic partnerships that go beyond the
traditional funding of discrete research projects. World-class research
universities are at the forefront of pioneering such partnerships as they look
beyond the horizon to run longer and invest more and prefer to transform
the role of a research university marking it a vital centre of competence.
The developed world is now reaping the huge benefits of this strong rather
improved linkage between academia and industry, something which is
critically missing in Pakistan. According to studies done on Pakistan, this
industry-academia gap is a major obstacle in promoting the culture of
research and development and subsequently the industry has to look
towards the foreign research models or entrepreneurs in an attempt to
meet the international business standards. It has been strongly observed
that academics and industrialists have very sharp contrast in their
approaches, visions, orientations and ultimate goals.

The former is striving for recognition from his or her peers while the latter
is striving to survive. One side prefers proven solutions with a low risk,
whereas academia is interested in creating new solutions with a high
innovation rate. Subsequently this approach hardly allows both the sides to
sit together and devise a roadmap for research and development. Since the
culture of R&D has not yet got promoted, universities normally do a poor
job of supervising students who are on attachments with many unsupervised
throughout their time in factories and companies.

There are several dimensions to the process of building institutional

capacity to respond to the knowledge and R&D demands of local firms.
Arranging of open houses is considered the best practicable solution that
provides students of different faculties with an opportunity not only to
display their projects but also avail the chance to interact with experts from
the industry and academia. All universities ought by now to establish an
industrial relations department within their structures with a budget, so
that the private sector is not looked upon to solely finance engagements
between the two sides. Moreover, we must start teaching our students how
to be entrepreneurs if we are to produce graduates we can proudly call our
own. Universities also need to employ aggressive business model tactics for
advancing science-based research such as procuring resources from
corporate partners and fostering the flow of knowledge and talent between
industry and academia.

Comparison of University-Industry linkage with countries like China,

India and Thailand

Pakistan has been a good producer and exporter for a range of products
accounting largely from agriculture sector. Leather and textile industries
are one of the Pakistans major export contributors. Industrial sector in
Pakistan is lagging behind the requirements of the era in terms of its both
infrastructure and skilled work force. Mostly industries operate at minimal
labor, often with few graduates or highly qualified skilled professionals, and
are private sector entities, with very poor R&D centers and academia
linkage. Pakistan, compared to its Asian counterparts, is far behind in
academia-industry linkage. By looking upon the emergence of progressive
countries in 21st century, ensure us the backing of academic support to
industrial sector, which ultimately excels in their production and foreign
exports competing with other leading counterparts.

Challenges to Pakistan

In Asian community, Pakistan is far behind in the race of product

development and its export in international markets. Major challenge is
noninvolvement of Government in the development of Science &Technology
(S&T). Moreover, if by chance, an initiative is taken, its implementation
suffers poor administration and improper execution halts its beneficial
outcomes, making worse the overall condition. Higher education and S&T,
very important sectors in developing a nation, seriously suffers the budget
allocations, and if allocated, often cut-down in the funding, makes the
conditions worse. According to a report of a comparison of higher education
budget allocation of 132 countries of the world, Pakistan is at 125th
number. National development is impossible to grow without the interests of
political Government and major reforms in higher education and S&T.

Proposed activities/ road map for a good Academia-Industrial

Linkage
Pakistan is very pathetic both from university and from industrial
perspective. Moreover, strategic Governmental policies to develop an
effective linkage across various institutes/industries in Pakistan are also
lacking. Political contemplation for academia-industry linkage is of major
concern, besides realization of its importance to industrialists and
academicians. Therefore, the proposed activities for academia-industry
linkages are explained hereafter.

1. Creation of Provincial Innovation System

Creation of Provincial Innovation System is required as a driving force for

the development of S&T and high-tech research under which patenting and
licensing regulation should be devised. Patenting policies and product
licensing play a very important role in technology transfer from universities
to industries keeping intact the Intellectual Property Rights for both the
partners and promote academia-industry collaborations.

2. Science Park

Science Parks should be put up within the universities to translate the ideas
into marketable product and promote the collaboration of industries and
Academia. Since, these centers provide an important hub for consultancy
and knowledge sharing to industrialists.

3. Socialized Science

Knowledge-based economies develop by sharing information and knowledge

transfer. In order to develop the scientific and research culture across
Pakistan, it is important to socialize the scientific activities, in form of
conferences, seminars, symposia, workshops and small trainings. These
provide the important platform for sharing of information to other members
of the community. Young students can benefit by knowing the trends in the
latest research work and then plan their own study projects. Industrial
communities get to know about the plethora of research progress across
different universities, which assist in the collaboration as per their product
development.