The Academy and Industry: Investing in New Collaborative Directions

I write this post from Philadelphia, a great historic center, and a long time home of Benjamin Franklin.  I’m thinking about our extraordinary research universities and all that they have meant and continue to mean for our nation.  I’m thinking of an often quoted Franklin adage and the guidance it brings to mind for higher education today. “An investment in knowledge always pay the best interest.” (in Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth, 1758).

Higher education has been and remains a unique driver of discovery, creativity, invention, and understanding.  As the innovation economy evolves in North America, so does its relationship to higher education. From the early decades of the last century, our faculties and graduates were principal contributors to the knowledge so important and valuable to advancing the professions, advances in technology and industry, commerce and business.  Few would argue that faculty, researchers, and graduates from higher education were well-equipped and contributed mightily to new directions.

And, so today, as we move toward the midpoint of this century, the expected “wealth” of our investments are represented in the outcomes of strategic partnerships among the range of sectors --  higher education business, industry, and every corner of our economy.  Continued progress will require us in higher education to have even sharper insights, ensuring the outcomes needed from our contributions as primary drivers of new knowledge, discovery, and technology.  Knowing what our internal strengths and external opportunities are will preserve the fundamental and foundational role of higher education in providing the information needed for advancing discovery and innovation.  What knowledge do we need as higher education leaders to ensure the “institutional wealth” that best supports our faculty and students and those we serve?

For almost two decades, working with Academic Analytics, first as a client and now as an academic senior advisor, I have had the benefit of their useful planning data and practical knowledge for informed decision making.  Academic Analytics colleagues are engaged in continued careful listening to university leaders—provosts, deans, vice presidents for research, advancement officers—and they hear a consistent message: institutions need better tools to understand where they are positioned best to lead, support faculty, and advance existing collaborations and secure new ones.

1. Valuing Comparative Analysis, Defining Goals

While comparative analysis remains essential, university leaders increasingly seek insights that drive action. The benchmarking platform enables institutions to identify leading disciplines that are contributing to new directions – within the institution, in relation to peer and near peer institutions, and to research conducted outside of higher education – business, industry, and related scientific organizations.  With this knowledge in hand, university leadership is better poised for discovering paths to new collaborations with institutional peers, extramural agencies, and industry.

2. Discovering New Extramural Partners

Universities often struggle to identify where faculty expertise intersects with industry and extramural demand. Discovery tools on an “industry insights” platform display a range of extramural faculty-industry connections by sector, in areas like AgTech, clean energy, and biotech where areas of existing institutional strength and potential new engagement are highlighted. This allows institutions to proactively identify where they have momentum and where untapped opportunities lie.

3. Alumni Pathways

Knowledge about alumni work placement is yet another platform that enriches our understanding of the pathways taken for our undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students.  Seeing where alumni are employed can provide rich outcome data for our schools and colleges and programs and also assist in development and philanthropy efforts.  Importantly, too, the employment sectors represented and alignment with industries and other extramural institutions provides yet another opportunity for research, collaboration, and discovery. The Alumni Insight platform is designed to support institutions' ability to see the paths taken by graduates, engage with their employers, and more generally contribute to workforce development – at the state, regional, national, and international levels.   The platform is similarly a valuable tool for curriculum outcomes and related planning.

Taken together, insights from benchmarking, alumni pathways, and extramural/industry collaborations are designed to provide higher education institutions with knowledge of their outcomes, comparative standing, and opportunities.  If higher education is to remain the historic driver of opportunity through education, discovery, invention, and creative expression, investing in knowledge tools for institutional insights will bring the well-earned dividends on our investments.  I think Benjamin Franklin would want our universities to continue leading higher education with clarity and purpose, and in partnerships for positive impact.

*The author thanks Matthew Cooper, Academic Analytics Strategic Engagement Manager, for the generous and valuable comments offered that helped shape this post.

If you are interested in learning more, please connect with colleagues for more information. Email info@academicanalytics.com to schedule a conversation to learn more about how the platforms can support your knowledge directions and investments for innovative contributions.

Written by  Lisa A. Tedesco, PhD*, Senior Advisor at Academic Analytics, Emory University Vice Provost Emerita, Dean Emerita - James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies, Professor Emerita - Rollins School of Public Health