The 2018 Times Higher Education (THE) Asian University Summit continued to share and discuss the theme of “National Innovation: The Role and Effectiveness of Research Universities.” World-renowned university presidents and higher education experts brought a veritable feast of ideas to the Summit with their unique insights.

Research universities play a vital role in national innovation systems, both for highly industrialized economies in Asia and emerging economies. University presidents and education experts have discussed how universities can contribute more to the creation of intellectual property and technology transfer; how government policy can create ideal institutional environments and invest its resources for prosperity; and how both mature and emerging industries can most effectively cooperate with universities. The Asian region includes both countries with rapidly growing populations and countries that are constantly adapting to an aging population. Universities going through different stages of economic development provide different voices. These diverse expressions help us understand the challenges and solutions that research universities bring through better cooperation and nurturing new growth points.

Topic 1: Research Universities – the cornerstone of the new economy

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Dr. Noorsaadah Abdul Rahman, University of Malaya

“Innovative enterprises incubate new technologies and are very important for economic development. It is necessary to promote Malaya University as an engine of economic growth by  strengthening cooperation between universities and various industries. Industry asks questions that universities solve, and the government provides support for this industry-university interaction. We strive to make research a driving force and cornerstone of our higher education development.”

According to Dr. Noorsaadah Abdul Rahman, the University of Malaya has a dedicated department dedicated to research and innovation. The University of Malaya has an Innovation Research Center that provides seed funding to students to give them the opportunity to support their development and to connect industry with the University more effectively.

Rector Zheng Jiali of Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia

“Universities should work together with government, enterprises and other parties. The government provides policies, laws, and regulations to support universities. Universities are ready to make use of various resources. We must further innovate in intellectual property rights.”

Zheng Jieli introduced the history of the Royal University of Phnom Penh in Cambodia and the challenges that the university has faced in its transition from teaching to research. He said that in order to meet the challenges, Royal University of Phnom Penh has cooperated with the World Bank to set up an incubation center to fight for university development support. The Royal University of Phnom Penh has practiced commercialization research through SMEs and has also collaborated with the collegiate university in the region.

Vice-Chancellor Lakshman Dissanayake of Colombo University, Sri Lanka

“Universities have a dual role of teaching, research, and interaction with local society. Building research universities creates new knowledge and new technologies while promoting new economic growth. Universities must unite with industry to connect with local communities. At the same time, we should continuously try to innovate in order to make new technology and innovation the two wings of university development.

Lakshman Dissanayake believes that universities should be able to innovate and ultimately serving society. He hoped that government departments would further improve relevant policy systems to ensure full, in-depth cooperation with universities and enterprises.

Vice-Rector for External Affairs Liliya G. Kiryanova of Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russia

“Universities must cooperate with government and enterprise to produce competitive and socially demanding products. Cooperation is important to serve society on a larger scale.”

Liliya G. Kiryanova said that Tomsk Polytechnic University actively participates in nationally critical research projects such as the Russian Research Excellence Program. It also works to promote the dynamic development of the economy, as well as science and technology.

Topic 2: Case Study – University-Industry Partnership

Dean of the School of Public Policy and Management Xue Lan, Tsinghua University

As the forum host, Xue Lan chaired a discussion on the development of the university and the flow of talent between business and academia. He also spoke about the substantial changes in social and economic relations under the transformation from the fourth industrial revolution.

He said that there are many new opportunities facing today to deepen the relationship between universities and enterprises. The development of higher education cannot be based on the need to meet business needs. It needs to be balanced and developed in order to go longer and further.

Vice President Anders Carlson, Elsevier

“Talent and partnerships are needed to meet the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution era.” Anders Carlson believes that the relationship between universities and industry, such as in institutions, is fundamentally a relationship between people. It is necessary to deal with the revolutionary role played by AI, including deep learning, to determine how the business community will see the relationship between industry and university in the future. It is critical for the industry to understand what universities can do and how companies can support research.

He explained some of the ideas of how a company considers its working relationship with a university. First, it seeks to recruit university talents, and synergize with top university brands. It secondly understands that the pace of innovation is increasing and that resources are becoming more open. As a result, enterprises must become more responsive to their end customers and their needs, so work closely with universities to find solutions.

President Yeon Cheon Oh of University of Ulsan

“It is self-evident that universities should take the initiative to meet the challenges and changes brought about by the information age. We need to consider not only the interests of some business organizations but also the significance of society as a whole.”

Yeon Cheon Oh suggested that university management should be enthusiastic and patient. He introduced two successful case studies of production, study, and research at the University of Ulsan. This included a new interdisciplinary approach to business and academic research collaboration. The University of Ulsan moved the Department of Chemistry and School of Materials Science and Engineering to new campuses, working closely with academics and industry in the process. He believed that such practice could enable industry, academia, and research to promote projects in a consistent manner. Yeon Cheon Oh said that students, faculty members, businesses, and governments start together and follow the same spirit in promoting the same goal.

President Xiong Sidong Suzhou (Soochow) University

“Universities should return to the social environment and be well integrated with the social atmosphere. Academic content must be closely linked to society in order to be integrally linked to society’s economic development and technological changes. There must be a common goal with a proper platform to build a closer relationship between industry and institutions of higher education. We must also develop the right infrastructure that allows us to reform our scientific research goals, assess the methods of evaluation while increasing the number of evaluation points.

Xiong Sidong believes that the focus of today’s discussion of university-industry linkages is how to cooperate and integrate, in a sustainable way. He specifically addressed issues like how to consolidate partnerships, think about problems with a global outlook with an institutional view, and encourage professors, students or university management to carry out research in a holistic way. Xiong Sidong also encouraged attendees to change how they evaluate their faculty members. Patents and papers are not the most important things that promote social development.

Keynote Speech: The Power of Partners – What Do Global Research Universities Bring to Innovative Economies?

President Ana Mari Cauce of Washington University

President Cauce gave the keynote speech on “The Power of Partners – What Do Global Research Universities Bring to Innovative Economies?” She shared the experience of University of Washington students in areas such as training, research, and international cooperation. She emphasized that universities must think from a global perspective, re-examine the methods of student development, and allow students to learn from their failures in school. Such an approach would help university students adapt to the new era and freely connect to the world.

In her view, we have now passed the era of “acting alone as a hero,” and cooperation is needed to succeed, both now and in the future, which makes the results more creative. It is necessary to find more opportunities to cross oceans, continents, and borders, as part of the promotion of broader and deeper cooperation. Ana Mari Cauce suggested that universities work together to set up a comprehensive cloud-based information sharing platforms for researchers to share and communicate in real-time, understand and solve problems, and find common well-being for humanity.

She said that like the Bay Areas of Boston and San Francisco, there is at least one high-quality research university in Shenzhen, Beijing, and Shanghai that supports the development of their constituent city. Universities must play leading roles in the innovative spirit of a city. She said that incredible amounts of inspiration could be gained from communicating with intelligent individuals, so we must be optimistic about how this inspiration can be transformed into innovation, which will transform the world into a better one.