Research, experimentation and development are key components to providing a competitive advantage to businesses and nations. Universities are places of learning and experimenting while businesses contribute to financing that research. So how do universities and companies contribute to developing research in the English-speaking world?
IUniversity partnership
1 Universities as research and education centers
Research universities are committed to research as their mission. Faculties carry out research which they can use as their course material. Universities in the English-speaking world are the leaders of research universities and dominate the world ranking.
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This ranking includes Ivy League universities in the US such as Harvard, MIT, Princeton and Yale but also Oxford, Cambridge or University College London in the UK.
Faculties who participate in research in their field of study are thus engaged in up-to-date data and can easily share that knowledge in their teaching.
Research at the university level also encourages funding and investment to offer state-of-the-art facilities, labs, libraries, etc.
2 Circulation of students and knowledge
Brain circulation concerns highly-skilled researchers’ mobility, which enables the creation of a network worldwide. Universities have been developing their international mission statements in order to provide a better system of circulation of students and knowledge.
For example, the Cambridge Africa programme promotes and supports African researchers. African students are welcomed at Cambridge, faculty members promote projects for sustainable development in African countries and scholarships are available. Cambridge has thus become a hub for interdisciplinary research, which mutually benefits the British university and universities across the African continent.
IIBusiness plan for Research and Development (R & D)
1 Businesses investing in education
For many years, big tech companies have pledged millions of dollars in education, providing discounts, equipping schools and universities and developing new tools. This merchandising of education and knowledge has accelerated with the Covid-19 pandemic, as students and teachers needed new and improved tools to cope with distant learning.
Education has also become a field for investment. The GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft) companies are motivated to invest in education for many purposes: it generates good revenue and students can use and get used to their products at an early age, increasing their brand loyalty rates.
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Brand loyalty is when consumers show positive feelings and attachment to a specific brand. They would only buy products from one brand regardless of performance.
IBM also launched a free online platform in Africa called D-NA (Digital Nation Africa), contributing to Africa’s innovation. This programme focuses on developing technological skills through free online classes.
2 Business or government-based support in R & D?
Research and development are key components in promoting a country’s power and innovation. The up-to-date data and research, the state-of-the-art facilities empower researchers and contribute to the economic, environmental and social development of the country.
While some countries’ R & D is financed by businesses, others are government-led. In India, for instance, R & D is heavily financed by the government unlike the UK or Canada that favour business-led R & D. Public or private funding in R & D must be complementary as business-led incentives must be helped with public policies.