A good Article on how universities can be innovative

Read today a nice article on how universities can be innovative here
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2010/January/opinion_January111.xml&section=opinion&col=

Time for Universities in the Gulf to Become Entrepreneurial
Dr Alimohommed Bhayani (ISSUES)19 January 2010
Universities the world-over have jumped onto the bandwagon of becoming entrepreneurial due to the changing economic environment in which they operate.
The concept of ‘Entrepreneurial Universities’ caught the attention of academia after the publication of Burton Clark’s, Emeritus Professor at the University of California, landmark book (‘Creating Entrepreneurial Universities: Organisational Pathways of Transformation’, published in 1998) on the subject. Many universities have since become entrepreneurial or at least claim to be entrepreneurial. The Gulf region has yet to catch up on this concept, which is very new here.
In a broad sense, entrepreneurism means any activity undertaken by universities in order to diversify their income sources and this includes expanding teaching capacities, creating innovative course offerings, internationalisation, getting fee paying self supported students, research and technology transfer. However, in the strict sense, entrepreneurism is limited to the creation of university-industry relationship to capitalise on the research capacities and capabilities in universities and enhance technology transfer. Henry Etzkowitz, Professor at Newcastle University and expert on Higher Education, outlining the importance of entrepreneurial universities to knowledge economies, states that “it is this capitalisation of knowledge that is the heart of the new mission for the universities, linking universities more tightly to users of knowledge and establishing the university as an economic actor in its own right”. Traditional concept of universities as conservators and creators of knowledge has been expanded to include the practical utilisation of knowledge. An entrepreneurial university is one that has the ability to innovate, recognise and create opportunities. It is a university that works in teams and encourages risk-taking behaviour and is quick in responding to changes.
Many advantages are accrued to universities in the US and Europe, which have become entrepreneurial. Universities that have successfully patented their research outcomes and commercialised them have reaped direct advantages like increased income for both university and researcher. State governments, observing these technology transfer activities, have provided additional funds or access to proprietary technology and equipment. There are other non-monetary rewards such as prestige and the exchange of knowledge with industrial researchers. The most important advantage of this technology transfer activity is a stronger relationship between universities and industry, which in turn will help universities to train students in new techniques and also ensure that graduates are suitable to work in industry. In addition to this, it helps in creating student internship and job placement opportunities that will encourage future graduates to acquire practical knowledge.
In the Gulf, there is a need for both the broad and strict entrepreneurial activities, in order to develop a knowledge economy. Public universities in the Gulf will need to be made more accountable as they are backed by public resources and have a mandate to build the knowledge economy. The leaders in the Gulf have recognised the importance of building the knowledge economy and to that end companies, institutions, and society will need to focus on skills development. The ability to develop human resources and to ensure continuous competency building will be the dominant requirement to sustain competitiveness for companies and prosperity for society. The first priority for public universities in the Gulf is to invest in research capacity. Most of them are highly oriented towards teaching and even when they are doing research; this research is not passed to industry for commercialisation.
The main reason identified by experts as an inhibitor to entrepreneurism in (Gulf) universities is a stable funding mechanism. Universities elsewhere have been forced to find diversified funding sources as state support to them has declined over time. Public universities in the Gulf enjoy a lot of state support and this acts as a disincentive to becoming entrepreneurial. Also, the university culture (values, norms, attitudes, etc.) is central to the development of entrepreneurial activity within the institution. There needs to be a marked shift in culture, therefore, if universities are to become entrepreneurial. Rigid bureaucracies need to become more flexible network enterprises. While focusing on institutional culture, I cannot overlook the role of education leadership in the creation of entrepreneurial universities.
In conclusion, public universities need to start transforming themselves into knowledge hubs and becoming innovative. They need to rely less on public funds and become self-sufficient. One way to do this is through the encouragement of research and the commercialisation of research. This calls for flexible structures and strong and motivated leadership. With the resources derived from oil income at disposal of public universities, there is a huge potential for universities to become entrepreneurial.
Dr Alimohommed Bhayani is Chief Operating Officer of Michigan State University, Dubai. The views expressed here are his own and not of his employer