Open Innovation: Effective Education

Open Innovation: Effective Education 

Open Innovation: Effective Education 

Open Innovation What should education be like in the digital age to meet the demand for continual renewal of competencies? What forms of training young specialists can be considered the most effective? And what are the challenges facing modern technology universities? How to ensure the openness of the university environment, flexibility, and mobility of educational programs was discussed at the Open Innovations Forum, which opened the day before in the Skolkovo Technopark. One of the participants in the discussion on the work of modern universities and their interaction with business was the rector of ITMO University Vladimir Vasiliev.

The main topic of open innovation on the first day of the VII International Forum of Innovative Development "Open Innovations" was modern forms of education and new strategies for training. On October 15, professors of the world's leading universities, representatives of international business, and government discussed models of effective training for specialists in a modern rapidly changing market.

One of the key events of the first day was the discussion “ Education 4.0. Creation of optimal conditions for the transition from university to business ”. Its participants were ITMO University Rector Vladimir Vasiliev, Ilmenau Technical University Peter Scharf, Leuven University Professor Stepan Lomov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of RUSNANO Management Company Yuri Udaltsov, Mail.Ru Group University Relations Director Sergey Mardanov, Siemens Vice President Martin Gitsels, and others ...

Opening the discussion, RVC General Director Alexander Povalko emphasized that the task of innovative development of the economy is closely related to the training of personnel that meets the modern needs of business in the global market. In this case, we are talking not only about new knowledge but also about the development of project competencies and the formation of readiness for professional activity in conditions of uncertainty. All this, in turn, requires a restructuring of approaches to education. But what should these approaches be? And how to create conditions whereby the business will work together with universities to achieve a common goal?

Business perspective: what does the industry expect from universities?

According to Siemens Vice President Martin Gitsels, who spoke about the international experience of companies interacting with universities, today the global role of universities is to ensure the transfer of knowledge from one generation to another, and to a greater extent, this task falls on technical universities. The industry, in turn, is interested in specialists who have a good technical base. But at the same time, one of the global requests of high-tech companies is related to the degree to which a specialist is ready to study after graduation. 

“ Technology changes very quickly. And the university cannot teach a person everything useful to him for life. And in this regard, our task, together with universities, is to teach a specialist to constantly improve his skills and look for new areas for their application and development. The same Steve Jobs is a very famous example of how a person knew how to look wider and look around him for such opportunities and tools that eventually helped him create something completely new, ”said Martin Gitsels.

The vice president of Siemens also added that the company has a successful track record of interacting with the best universities and introducing innovations that emerge from universities. The success of this collaboration model is based on project work and the involvement of industrial partners at an early stage in the implementation of such projects.

Sergey Mardanov, Director of Cooperation with Universities at Mail.Ru Group, spoke about the Russian experience of interaction between high-tech companies and universities during the plenary session. According to the expert, seeing the main value in employees, the company has established cooperation with universities more than seven years ago, including ITMO University. As a result of this interaction, Mail.Ru Group is currently accepting more than 3,000 people for company courses at seven universities in the country. However, even despite this, there are still problems that prevent fruitful interaction.

Of course, if this process drags on for a long time, we are simply forced to find a partner with whom it will be easier to establish interaction. However, by and large, all these issues are solvable. The main thing is trust between the university and the company. If it can be achieved, it is possible to realize any story. And it should be noted that today it is becoming easier to do this: we feel the interest of universities, which see a lack of practical knowledge and understand that they can get it from us, ”said Sergei Mardanov.

Universities' perspective: how to synchronize the development strategy of universities and business?

The main way of effective interaction between universities and business is to synchronize the speed of their changes, emphasized Vladimir Vasiliev, Rector of ITMO University.

Businesses operate in a rapidly changing technology environment. Universities should also take this into account: only those universities that build their strategies in the 2025-2027 horizon and understand that they will take into account the speed of these changes will get the result that will satisfy graduates and potential employers. Therefore, we need to match the speed of change and the reaction to them: the development strategies of business and universities should be commensurate, ”he said.

Vladimir Vasiliev also noted that today the choice of the student himself and his personal trajectory of development are acquiring a special role. In connection with this trend, such leading universities as MIT and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore are revising their strategies.

ITMO University has developed the ITMO Code, which, in addition to being fundamental in the usual sense, includes such components as digital culture, design thinking, the development of an entrepreneurial culture, as well as the formation of professional skills and supra-subject competencies, said the rector of ITMO University. He emphasized that the key factor in the interaction of the university with industrial partners is the willingness to share this vision and to be involved in the formation of professional skills at the master's level.

According to Peter Scharf, Rector of the Ilmenau Technical University, the result of interaction between universities and industry should, among other things, be effective work on the global challenges that humanity faces today. Professor of the Catholic University of Leuven (the university is ranked 47th in THE 2018 ranking and 81st in the QS 2019 ranking), Stepan Lomov, also spoke about social responsibility in this aspect. At the end of the conversation, the expert came up with his own recipe for the development of innovations: 50% of fundamental education, which provides the flexibility of skills, 20% of specialized education, which meets current needs and 30%, which is project activities that provide a connection with industry.

The VII International Forum for Innovative Development "Open Innovations" is held on October 15-17, 2018 at the Skolkovo Technopark. According to the organizers, the event brought together participants and guests from more than 90 countries. This year the theme of the Forum is “Sources of digital breakthrough”. As part of the business program, the development of government programs to support innovation, involvement in the international innovation and acceleration community, stimulation and strengthening of innovation, opportunities for the commercialization of ideas, and other topical issues of technology development in Russia and the world will be discussed.