Daniel Drolet
While some university researchers fear that their work is being co-opted by commercial interests, there is also a challenge for academic institutions to promote innovation within their larger social mission.
These opposing views were discussed by participants at a panel entitled “Universities as a Source of Innovation” which was partof the 7th annual GSAÉD Interdisciplinary Conference on February 19.
At a time when universities are turning to the private sector to help with funding, three of the five panellists argued that private-sector agendas are clashing with some of the university’s basic functions.
Marjorie Stone, a professor of English and Women’s Studies at Dalhousie University, said that too often, the criteria universities use to judge success are inappropriate – even counter-productive – because the kind of innovation promoted by institutional structures is too closely linked to the production of goods and commodities and too far removed from the source of all innovation: human creativity. Stone was prevented from attending by the blizzard that swept Canada’s Atlantic Coast but her paper was delivered by conference co-chair Tanya Shaw.
Jim Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, argued that commercialization should not be central to what goes on at a university. He said a great deal of what is important to society has no commercial application, adding that researchers have been remarkably bad at predicting what research will eventually have commercial relevance.
Kristian Ewen, a master’s student in mechanical engineering at the University of Ottawa, argued that since the Second World War, research has been almost solely driven by the need to produce marketable results, rather than the search for knowledge.
But Tom Brzustowski, president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC), warned against complacency. He said Canada has been relying too much on its natural resources for its wealth, and not enough on its brainpower. Canada, he said, needs to follow the lead of countries such as Taiwan and use knowledge as a basis for wealth creation.
“In the light of this, universities are perhaps the most precious resource Canada has for maintaining its prosperity and quality of life for the future,” he said.
Janet Halliwell, executive vice-president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) noted that wealth-producing innovation does not occur in a vacuum. “It is intimately linked to the whole of society becoming more creative.”
She said the challenge for universities is to partner with non-academic users of knowledge, train more students at advanced levels more quickly, and use research as a training ground.
