THE NEW ECONOMY AND THE ACADEMIA HOW DO WE E-ENGINEER OURSELVES TO
RESPOND AT THE SPEED OF DEMAND
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CONVERGENCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
& THE NEW ECONOMY: FACULTY’S
ROLE IN EMPOWERING CHANGE SYMPOSIUM
NOVEMBER 9, 2000
industry
A. Anil Kumar, Ph.D.
Prairie View A&M University
Tel:(936)857-2591
Fax:(936)857-2598
E-mail: anil_kumar@pvamu.edu
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE
COMING OUT OF THIS SYMPOSIUM
•
An enhanced awareness of the role of university
faculty and research staff in business development
•
A sustaining dialog between PVAMU
research staff and small businesses
•
Setting up a knowledge management network
(KMNet) infrastructure, that will serve as a unique
resource to academia, businesses (large and small),
government and the social sector
•
Initiation of a viable strategy for initiating,
stimulating, and sustaining wealth building
processes in the communities serving and
supported by PVAMU
faculty,
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
Bridge the Gap Between the
Laboratory and the Marketplace
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE GLOBAL
COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
y Advances in technology account for
more than 50% of U.S. economic
growth
y Global competition has forced a focus
on short-term return on investment
y Now more than ever, our nation’s
economic well being depends on rapid
development and commercialization
of technology
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
Quality of Work
WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR MINDSETS IN ACADEMIA!
Most of us are here
Invention
But We
Should Be
Here!
Inn0vation
Value (Relevance) of
Work
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND
THE NEW PARADIGMS!
Automation, cost control and efficiency (~1950)
Productivity and end-user empowerment (~1975)
Value creation (~1985)
Total reshaping of business models (~2005)
Unprecedented employee empowerment
Flattened organizational structures
Fundamental questioning of traditional practices
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT THE EXTERNAL WORLD IS
THINKING OF US
Institutions of higher education commonly exhibit a dangerous
conceit.
They behave as if they are convinced that they are in charge of their
destiny even when they refuse to take charge of their evolution.
They very often act like canoeists on a white water river who
believe that if they decline to paddle, their canoe will not move.
The fact is, it will move, and rapidly, whether they paddle or not.
Their survival among the rocks in the white water educational river
may depend on their recognizing that fact!
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
WE NEED TO CHANGE THE WAY
WE THINK ABOUT FUNDING
Standard strategy - wait for requests for proposals (RFPs, RFIs,
RFQs, BAAs, …)
Innovative strategy - Look for applications for your capability, trade
or expertise in ways that have not been thought of before.
Examples:
• Low cost, light “heating blanket”
• Used baby diapers
• Phytoremediation (PhytoTech Inc.)
• Software - universal applications
Proactive strategy - seek out opportunities even before they come
out by growing on the brains (being a PEST!) of the program
managers in funding agencies. Our chances of funding are
significantly increased if we identify solutions to problems the
customer does not know he/she has or might have in the future.
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
WE NEED TO PURSUE
NEWER MODES OF FUNDING
•
SBIR - Small Business Innovation
Research
•
STTR - Small Business Technology
Transfer Research
•
ID/IQ - Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite
Quantity Contracts
•
Alliances - SEA, HMIRA
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
THINK CONTRACTS NOT JUST GRANTS
• Every 20 seconds of each working day, the U.S. Government
awards a contract worth an average of $465,000.00.
• The Federal Government issues over $260 billion in contracts
annually.
• State Governments issue another $300 billion in contracts
annually.
• Local Municipal Governments issue over $200 billion in contracts
annually.
• Combined Federal, State & Local Governments spend an
impressive $ 800 billion annually – making the United States
Government the largest business in the world.
• At latest count, there are 22 million small businesses in the
United States, yet only about 1% of them participate in
Government Contracts.
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
WE NEED TO PROVIDE
SUPPORT SERVICES PROGRAMS
•
To promote home-based and micro-businesses.
•
To improve the competitiveness of microenterprises
producing goods and services in the Waller County, and in the
surrounding areas.
•
The program will provide a range of services organized into
three components: 1) training in business management and
administrative support, 2) support for production and
marketing, and 3)promotional and public awareness.
•
To connect entrepreneurs in networks of related small
businesses such as supply chains.
•
To offer training and technical assistance, and promote access
to information, opportunities, and resources.
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
SMALL BUSINESS MENTORING PROGRAM
AT PVAMU
This mentoring will be carried out in several
interactive formats.
•Lecture Sessions with Q&A Sessions
•Hands-on Workshops
•Individual or Small Group Sessions
•E-mail
•Dedicated web site
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
POTENTIAL SMALL BUSINESS PARTNERS
•
EnviroStudy Int’l, Inc., Houston, Mr. Larry B.
Lockhart*
•
CyberSoft Technologies, Inc., Houston, Mr. Ramki
Ramakrishnan
•
Wayne Langston, Inc., Houston, Mr. Wayne
Langston
•
TEMAC Solutions, Houston, Mr. Kevin Jones*
•
BradLink WebDesign, Houston, Ms. Helen Callier*
* PVAMU Graduates
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
SUGGESTION FOR A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT
ESTABLISHMENT OF A
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT NETWORK
A NEW TYPE OF VIRTUAL INCUBATOR?
• Establish a KMNet among PVAMU and its partners.
• The KMNet will be a virtual “one stop shopping (cyber-) mall”
for a wealth of information relevant to small business
development.
• The KMNet will host the partnering institutions’ capabilities,
success stories and lessons learned, list and descriptions of
partners, ongoing projects, “notice board” for businesses
seeking partners or sponsors seeking clients or venture
capitalists seeking potential investment opportunities, etc.
• The KMNet will also be linked to major industry so as to set
up potential supply chain facilities among the small
businesses.
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
DEDICATED SERVER AND WEBSITE FOR SMALL
BUSINESSES AND INCUBATORS
• A dedicated server with relevant information on business
development is being set up at PVAMU.
• This website will be dynamically linked to similar other sites
and will serve as a unique resource.
• Plans are being developed to establish a VPN (virtual private
network) for those businesses that will have signed a
partnership agreement with PVAMU.
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
TYPES OF CHANGE
Internally
motivated
Types of
Change
Proactive,
self-initiated
Improvement
(incremental)
Adjustment
(development of a
new sub-system)
Constrained
Externally
demanded
Systemic
(reconstruction &
recreation)
Systemic change is essential not just for the survival
of the institution but for its continued contribution to
the society.
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
CONSEQUENCES OF NONPLANNING
• By the year 2000, the nation's 3,600 or so accredited colleges and
universities that now exist will have sorted themselves -- or will
have been sorted by external forces -- into just a few categories.
• Some will continue to do business as usual instead of addressing
the new realities. As a result, they will have lost status and will be
in danger of becoming extinct.
• Some will have confronted these new realities but will have taken
only small incremental steps to address them. They will constitute
the undistinguished middle of the academic pack, those we will
think of as "hanging on, but nothing special” or the “me too” ones.
• And some will have confronted the new realities and will have
responded with wisely-chosen, bold, and radical changes of
direction. They will form the new vanguard of higher education.
Remarks by University of Maryland System Chancellor Donald N.
Langenberg (1995)
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
“The big won’t beat the small - the fast will beat the slow.”
- John Chambers, President, Cisco Systems
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000
Remember:
Business as usual = No business at all
&
If you want them to keep coming back for
more, you have to continue to offer more!
A.A.Kumar/Symposium/Marshall’s/November 9,2000