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Science-Based Economic Development edited by Susan Raymond
John J. Desmond
University of South Florida
Department of Industrial Management & Systems Engineering
This paper briefly examines how partnerships between government, industry and universities can promote science-based development. It will present examples drawn from experiences in the state of Florida and elsewhere, showing how these institutions are finding ways jointly to define and achieve objectives. The information contained in the paper is exemplary and descriptive and is not intended to be comprehensive. It is not assumed that these examples will be directly transferable to other locations but their value is in their variety and innovation. They may suggest directions for others to explore in their own efforts. Throughout these examples we see the serious need for cooperating institutions to understand the objectives, resources, and motivations as well as the limitations of their partners. With such understanding as a starting point the partnership opens a door to opportunities that none could exploit alone.
The Evolution of Florida's Post-War Economy
Florida's rapid post-World-War II growth during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s was based on increased population attracted by climate and lower living costs, on traditional agriculture and minerals, and on high-technology defense industry. The services and construction sectors continue to be supported by rising population and tourism and minerals, especially for phosphates and chemical fertilizers, and agriculture retain their importance in spite of fluctuations in weather and markets. High-technology industries, however, have suffered seriously because of irreversible reductions in defense spending. Therefore conversion of their valuable resources, both capital and human, to traditional and new technologies is the target of a major movement in which industry, universities, and public agencies are engaged.
Florida is now obliged to formulate development policies to manage and support the economy and especially to seek new opportunities. The opportunities will be found in natural resources, in preserving the productive capacities of industry, in the supporting infrastructure, in the management capabilities of the business community, and in the intellectual and research capabilities of universities and technical institutions. The conditions in Florida resulting from the loss of federal funding for defense-based industries may be of special relevance in this conference to participants from newly independent nations which have had similar experiences in emerging from former patronage relationships.
Discussion
In the following sections the characteristics of government, industry, and universities are summarily presented and another agency, the professional society, is introduced. Their individual and joint needs are discussed as a basis for presenting examples to illustrate how these agencies interact. The examples illustrate points which appear to be essential if similar programs are being considered for initiation elsewhere.
What Does Government Seek?
Government seeks a stable, growing economy to support progressive social conditions, equitable employment opportunities for workers, improvement of the infrastructure, and tax revenues to support its services. The term stable economy can be defined as the generation and use of wealth resulting from the sale of products and services, implying that expenditure of wealth does not exceed the wealth generated. The value which industry creates by using capital and labor to convert raw materials to marketable goods is ultimately the largest source of wealth supporting society, the services sector of the economy and government. The government is therefore greatly dependent on healthy industry to achieve its objectives.
What Does Industry Seek?
The needs of a company can be deduced from its Mission Statement. This statement will express the intention of management to generate a return on investment, to preserve the value of its capital investment, and to protect its market by offering a product which satisfies its customers' demand for quality and value. It will also express the company's policies for relations with customers, employees and the community.
The primary factors in the business equation are product and market. Keeping market share demands constant awareness and response to market changes. The result might be introduction of a new product or improvement in the quality and value of the current product. Improving a product or creating a new product are positive market changes to which science and technology can contribute. Contrariwise, Florida's high-technology industry suffered a negative market change when the demand for its defense-related products declined. This industry and its suppliers are now seeking new product lines to utilize existing capabilities and avoid shutdowns while new enterprises are seeking to gain a place in the economy. An example of successful new enterprise is the biotechnological manufacturing industry which has been catalyzed by Florida's health services industry and which has now expanded its market beyond Florida into the global marketplace. The close association of the healthcare industry, the medical profession, hospitals and the state university system's medical schools has been significant in developing this new sciencebased industry.
Industry constantly seeks new technologies, methods, and materials on which to base product innovation and process efficiency and improvement of information and management technology. Seeking and utilizing new technology creates a corresponding demand for personnel trained in scientific research and in the application of new technology; the university is an obvious source of competent workers.
Industry needs government policies that will promote, or at least not hinder, its growth. This includes installing an infrastructure which gives ready access to transportation, communications, utilities, and other systems and services that the infrastructure provides. Industry also seeks clear permitting procedures and taxation compatible with the services the government supplies. It is dependent, too, on government education policies to provide graduates who can adapt to industry's special technologies.
What Do the Universities Seek?
The primary missions of the university are teaching and research. The university seeks employment opportunities for graduates to apply their learning in gainful, productive work. While university research is not based on the profit-making motivation of industry it does seek grants to supplement its budget for basic and general research. University laboratories expend 60 percent to 70 percent of their time conducting pure research not directed toward solving industry's problems although their research may eventually lead to inventions or new applications that possess commercial value. Industry contracts for applied research and development directed at some specific target are becoming a more frequent source of desired external funding. Such sponsored research and its working contacts between university faculty, staff, and students and industrial personnel is an important channel for the university to expand both research and teaching.
What Can Government Do?
Government has the authority and responsibility to make the policies under which economic development proceeds; such policies which affect industry and the university can best be formulated in concert with them. Both the university and industry, respectively seeking students and employees, are reliable sources of information and advice as government forms its education policies. In other areas of policy-making, those relating to infrastructure and environment, government can call on the universities for objective scientific research useful in forming policy impacting industrial and economic development.
Government is in a unique position to sponsor agencies that bring together entrepreneurs, university researchers, industry, and potential sources of financing. It can, where budgets permit, offer financial support through these agencies for research and development that meets some specific public need and that has the potential for successful commercialization. This course was followed by Florida in establishing the former Hi-Technology Council described in the Florida Case Study presented in this volume. Changes in the structure of state government have led to replacement of the council with Enterprise Florida, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation which now seeks out and encourages cooperation and development among entrepreneurs, industry, universities, community business groups, and investors.
What Can Industry Contribute?
"True wealth comes from the productive enterprise of manufacturing. A 'service economy' or a 'knowledge economy' cannot survive in the long run without a productive manufacturing economy as its basis," says Dean Michael Kovac of the School of Engineering at the University of South Florida. Industry's contribution to development is the new wealth it creates and injects into the economy. This wealth is distributed as wages, purchase of materials, supplies, and services, cost of borrowed money, capital investment, profit to owners, and excises to government. The financial downflow from industry through other sectors of the economy multiplies its effect and a significant portion flows into building the infrastructure. It is essential that government policy makers recognize the importance and magnitude of industry's contribution to the economy.
In examining the contributions industry can make to the universities we find that there are mutual benefits in their interaction. Industry can make grants to support research on specific industrial problems or basic research that may eventually lead to new principles, processes, or products. In conducting industry-sponsored research, university personnel gain a better understanding of industrial objectives, and industry gains a better understanding of the capabilities of academic laboratories. This is especially true when the interaction alleviates industry's perception that academe fails to appreciate time and cost constraints. Supplemental earnings from direct contracts may motivate faculty interest in industrial operations, and through internships industry can introduce students to its operations in anticipation of future working careers. Industry is a source of specifics for developing curricula that will be needed for current and future industrial trends, but industry's most important influence in the university sphere may be to give exposure to the basic principle of industry which is to be profitable, sustaining, results oriented, and aware of deadlines.
An innovative proposal to industry and the university is the Industrial Professorship. The proposal would see faculty positions created with specific terms of residence for teaching or research related to both industry and academic objectives. These positions would bring into the university industrialists with education, interest in the missions of the university, relevant industrial experience and teaching or research ability. Satisfactory development of details for accreditation, remuneration, and tenure would make this proposal worthy of consideration by both industry and the university
What Can the University Contribute?
Dr. Arnold Heggestad, Director, Division of Entrepreneurial Programs, and Dr. Karen Holbrook, Vice President for Research, Technology and Graduate Education at the University of Florida, and DL Michael Kovac, Dean, and DL Robert Carnahan, Assistant Deam for research, at the College of Engineering, University of South Florida, have given their thoughts on what the university can contribute to industry.
The university's contribution to science-based development stems from its two objectives: education and research. Its educational activity produces engineers, scientists and professionals trained under a recognized standard of excellence for employment in industry or for research and teaching. Graduates who can increase the capability of industry to fill its missions are brought to the labor market and research produces a new understanding of the principles on which industrial processes and products are based.
University has an advantage over industry in research because its laboratories have equipment and staff that few private companies could afford. By performing research for industry the university research team will investigate problems in depth and may uncover unsuspected factors relating to industrial processes. When university and industry have open communication channels the results of basic research may offer industry new opportunities for commercial applications. Such research has already been the basis for a number of new companies in Florida's biotechnology industry. I
In the area of scientific industrial management, the university contributes statistical methods for production control and product quality to satisfy customers and meet competition. Many graduate curricula now include both management and technological studies to better prepare students for decision making in industry. . Professionals already in positions of responsibility who find a need for advanced study to keep abreast of change can attend continuing education courses at universities or in those sponsored by professional societies.
Florida's state university system has a number of specially designated centers with close links to industry and to state and federally sponsored development organizations such as STAC and Enterprise Florida, Inc.:
Center for Applied Human Factors in Aviation, University of Central Florida
Center for Computer Integrated Engineering and Manufacturing, University of South Florida
Center for Development of Materials, University of South Florida
Center for Microelectronics Research, University of South Florida
Center for Materials Research and Technology, Florida State University
Center for Electro-Optics and Lasers, Orlando
Florida Space Grant Consortium, University of Florida, Gainesville
Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida
Processional Societies
The professional societies represent a very large and important segment of the science, technology, and industrial community with membership and interests spanning; industry and academia in all branches of technology. Their purpose is to advance and exchange knowledge among members, promote their areas of special interest, establish codes and standards, publish technical journals and papers, advise policy makers and to contribute to education. Many of the societies have development committees, which are a source of assistance or guidance to professionals and others who might have some interest in their field of activity. Our own New York Academy of Sciences is demonstrating through this international conference how a learned society is a source of information for policy makers from a wide range of contributors.
Examples of current activities of a typical society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, are taken from topic headings in the March 1996, issue of ASME News:
Sections have many ways to establish government relations.
Russian engineers' introduction to the U.S. technology begins in Washington.
Calendar—43 technical conferences and meetings are scheduled for March through December.
The Society of Automotive Engineers recently received a grant of $1.5 million from General Motors to conduct an innovative program entitled "A World of Motion" in elementary schools in the United States and Canada.
Other societies conduct similar local or regionally organized programs in universities and schools, and with civic groups.
Enterprise Florida
Enterprise Florida, Inc. is a state sponsored not-for-profit corporation which operates in the public/private sector to assist business in finding opportunities in technology-based industry through a variety of business-related activities and services conducted by its specialized regional offices. Its Manufacturing Technology Centers are designed to assist small business entrepreneurs and defense-based manufacturers seeking transition to private markets. Enterprise Florida also assists in transferring university, federal, and defense-based innovative technologies into the public marketplace; businesses or communities that require skill-upgrading to meet new manufacturing requirements may seek advice on training from Enterprise offices.
The network of offices and service units that Enterprise Florida operates throughout the state provides contacts among a number of other technology-based development agencies. It has close ties with STAC (described below), with universities, with TDC (described below), with large manufacturers, with public business organizations, and with local education and training organizations. Regional entities and communities can seek assistance on planning and infrastructure development.
An important part of Enterprise Florida's activity is at the state policy making level where its contacts in state government seek advice on industrial development. The scope of Enterprise Florida has recently been expanded by the State to include activities which were formerly carried by the state Department of Commerce. An organization similar to Enterprise Florida, IPEC, established in Portugal to foster development is another example of a policy-driven effort.
Southern Technology Applications Center
STAC is a federally sponsored organization that assists entrepreneurs to gain access to federal laboratories and research organizations, universities, and potential investors. It acts within the Federal Laboratories Consortium, Southeast Region, but communicates through the consortium with all federal research establishments. Within Florida it has offices at the state universities and works closely with them as well as with members of the business community. STAC was set up by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, to commercialize technology developed by government laboratories working in a number of high-technology disciplines. It is an example of how a national network has been organized to provide a broad range of contacts and services to entrepreneurs seeking to enter technology-based industry. STAC provides services in four categories:
Business and operations management
Information retrieval on a variety of topics
Needs assessment of internal operations
Identification of funding services
Research planning and development
Assessment of internal technologies before commitment to commercialization
Identification of funding opportunities from federal sources
Completion of on-line patent and trademark searches
Commercialization
Assist in developing marketing plans
Locate published data on markets
Identify relevant trade journals for targeted advertising programs
Identify potential prospects/clients and likely competitors
Education and Training
Assist in the development of training primers, resource guides, and directories
Provide workshop access to business and advanced technical education topics
Organize and support conferences aimed at promoting technology transfer
The range of services available through STAC illustrates the complexity an entrepreneur would face in setting up a new company and the value of guidance at a professional level.
Southeast Technology Transfer Conference
Many conferences are held world-wide every year in which representatives of the various sectors of an industry meet to exchange ideas and promote their products and services; those sponsored by professional societies were referred to previously. A series of conferences with a different and more specialized focus based on scouting and networking for new research, technologies and products is held annually in strategic locations in the United States. The University of South Florida and STAC co-hosted a Technology Transfer Conference in Orlando in February, 1996. Similar conferences will be held during the year in Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. The organizer of these conferences is a non-profit organization, Technology Transfer Conferences, Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee.
The participation of universities and research institutions in direct meetings with industry representatives seeking new ideas and products is the unique feature of these conferences. In addition to personal contacts the conference organizers sponsor access to databases of the Department of Defense, the National Technology Transfer Center, and many other similar sources. The presence of STAC gives interested entrepreneurs access to all U. S. governments and the results of their research.
The Tampa Electric Company Clean Coal Project
The completion of a new power plant by TECO, Tampa Electric Company, in November, 1995, is the culmination of a major cooperative effort between industry and researchers to utilize the nation's most abundant energy source, high-sulfurbearing coal, in an environmentally acceptable manner. The problem is one which exists all over the world and has been subject to extensive research by the utility industry, its research institutes, and the U.S. Department of Energy, in whose laboratories the Clean Coal process was developed.
The Clean Coal process is an example of technological research conducted at the national level being applied locally and also having the potential for transfer internationally. The process does not only solve the problem of environmental pollution but produces valuable by-products from the rejected material. The research on which this process is based is typical of what organizations such as STAC and the E National Research Laboratory Consortium make available to the private sector
The process is reported to be under study by foreign governments who see it as a possible solution to both energy delivery and environmental problems. This is a transfer of technology that has the potential for major international cooperation between the U.S. and power companies overseas.
The Technology Deployment Center at the Pinellas Plant
The Pinellas Plant has been part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Weapons complex for almost forty years. Its high-technology production and product development, based on sophisticated processes and a highly competent technical and scientific staff, has been an important contributor to the local economy but cutting defense requirements forecasts closure of the plant in 1998. A program is now in place seeking to transfer the facilities to the private sector to mitigate the economic effects of the closure and to preserve its technological capabilities. The Technology Deployment Center is the active agent in this project.
The Technology Deployment Center is jointly managed by the University of South Florida and Lockheed Martin Specialty Components, the contractor managing and operating the plant. The TDC will jointly sponsor private sector projects which are deemed capable of successful commercialization. Private industry may submit proposals for review by the TDC to confirm viability and to determine what development resources of TDC can be utilized. An accepted project can go through three sponsored phases leading to commercialization:
Prototype, with participation of partner, $500,000
Commercialization, partner reimburses development costs after commercialization
Procedures for ownership of patents and other protections of intellectual property rights are included in the agreements between the entrepreneur and TDC.
The life of TDC under DOE funding extends until 1998 after which its continuation would be as a self-funded enterprise.
Intellectual Property Protection
Intellectual property developed in universities or in development-sponsoring organizations such as TDC is subject to procedures which are spelled out in detail before research or development is started. The terms of agreement define ownership of patents and distribution of royalties or proceeds on sale. Each case must be considered individually by those who will be directly involved and it is not appropriate here to cite specific terms. However, there are general caveats that may be stated:
Document all details of the invention with dates, witnesses, disclosures, patent applications, and other information needed for legal protection.
Obtain competent legal and technical advice
Protect other inventions that might flow from the original
When entering into agreements understand the terms fully before finalization
Document all discussions relating to the invention or agreements
Understand the rights that will be retained or relinquished under an agreement
Understand the time and cost required for development before commercialization
Understand the realistic value to the inventor from commercialization
The Technology Deployment Center and the University of South Florida have specific procedures governing intellectual property protection for development conducted under their sponsorship which are similar to those in effect at all state universities. Entrepreneurs who join with universities or the TDC program are informed of conditions at the beginning of discussions. STAC is another source of guidance on patent procedures.
Infrastructure
The infrastructure of the state is indispensable to developing industries, and its plans must be based on sound long-range growth forecasts because it both affects and is, in turn, affected by development. In Florida, responsibility for various sectors of the infrastructure, highways, railroads, power distribution, telecommunications, water and sewer, airports and harbors, rests with a number of agencies—state, local, and private. The science of forecasting and planning is not directly within the field of technology but it has a significant effect on how well technologies are applied, in this case by the Department of Transportation in forecasting highway construction.
The Department of Transportation, within whose function lies building and maintaining the state's highway network, is an example of a department which has adopted a policy extending forecasts to the twenty-five year horizon. Firstly, it recognizes the importance of transportation in Florida, a state where highway transport is the most common mode between a few industrial centers separated by long distances. The department cooperates with local communities in state-authorized growth management plans where its more advanced planning methods ensure that local access for industry is provided for the long term. Florida's Department of Transportation regionally-based organization has innovative features that have improved its overall effectiveness and it is being studied by several other states as a model in improving their own departments.
University of Florida's Office of Technology Transfer Education
The University of Florida has inaugurated a Technology Transfer Education (TTE) program which is designed to overcome a perceived general lack of experience in technology transfer and product development in universities. Transfer Technology Education is aimed at giving faculty, students and staff specific skills in the development of products so that collaboration with industry will be enhanced. A second goal is to present Technology Transfer as a specialization in the Master in Business Administration (MBA) program of the College of Business Administration.
Graduate research training is traditionally aimed at preparation for academic research positions rather than for corporate research. This direction has lessened employment opportunities for graduates and in the absence of industry-related research in university laboratories, the potential for product-oriented invention has also been lessened. Tax liability for profit from invention may be a valid deterrent against commercialized product development in not-for-profit universities, but there are legitimate channels for revenue producing research. TTE instructs in aspects of research relevant to industry and commercialization such as the protection of integrity of scientific process, preservation of patentability and accuracy and clarity of recording.
TTE course material will be available to supplement technology transfer topics now contained in other MBA courses and certain material will be adaptable to distance learning. Representatives of industry will be invited to participate in seminartype sessions with the objective of bringing faculty, students and staff into direct contact with industry to increase mutual understanding.
Florida Engineering Education Distribution System-Feeds
The University of South Florida conducts an extensive set of Engineering Management courses in a Master's program for engineering graduates who are employed in management positions throughout the state. The objective of the program is to offer an opportunity to engineers who have been employed in industry for a number of years to attend courses suited to their management duties. The courses offered include entrepreneurship, technology and law, business planning, total quality management, and many other topics that an engineer encounters in management. The courses are not limited to engineers but are also credited by the Business School for MBA candidates. There is a similarity in content with the TTE program being offered for business school credit at the University of Florida. The FEEDS program has awarded more than three hundred Master of Engineering Management degrees, mainly to students located at a distance from the Tampa campus where the classes originate.
The presentations are usually scheduled for evening hours when employed persons can participate, most frequently from their company offices where video facilities have been set up. The sessions are videocasts to the sites with live audio communication between sites as well as to the main studio so that much of the advantage of live class participation is achieved. For some sites that are not on the electronic communications network, videotapes are available. The system has elicited wide interest both domestically and internationally, including Venezuela, Brazil and Italy, where distance education has a potential in professional education. A feature of the course is its many seminar-type sessions with participation by industry executives who engage in panel discussions in the studio and with students over the electronic links. An ancillary product of the class is the hands-on studio experience gained by Communications students who operate the cameras and control panels in credit bearing courses.
Alberta's Industry-Oriented Education System
The government of the Canadian province of Alberta has promoted a comprehensive educational system that includes training at several levels closely geared to industry needs. At the university level, traditional undergraduate and graduate courses are presented; it is the comprehensiveness of courses at lower levels that makes the collaboration between education and industry notable. Because of the unusual completeness of Alberta's system, many of its features are described here in detail for examination by any who are interested in training for an industrial economy.
Alberta's technology and occupational programs complement its university level professional education with a broad system for training technologists, technicians and tradesmen, all of whom can obtain certificates or diplomas recognized by employers. Standards for this technical education are formally established by the Canadian Council of Technologists and Technicians and are maintained through a procedure for accrediting institutions that train students. The interests of industry are specifically addressed in the stated objectives of the accreditation policy:
meets the challenge of technological development by stimulating ongoing curriculum improvement through the process of continuous review; and
provides a medium for the exchange of ideas between educational agencies and the profession as to the educational needs of the profession.
The Council maintains liaison with similar accrediting organizations in other countries, among them the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology in the United States. Completion of a post-secondary program of study at an accredited institution is marked by a Certificate for a Technologist and a Diploma for a Technician. These classifications are defined in the National Accreditation Policy.
A Certified Engineering Technician or Certified Technician is an individual who, through academic training and experience in the application of mathematics and engineering or scientific principles, is capable of accepting responsibility and of exercising judgment on the specialized portion of the field of engineering or applied science in which training has been achieved. By virtue of this training and experience a technician is often delegated responsibility for aspects of work within his specialized portion of the field of training (the distinction is in the level of responsibility and scope of permitted activity).
Programs in thirteen disciplines of technology commonly required in Canadian industry are eligible for accreditation and issuance of certificates and diplomas. Awareness of the needs of both students and industry is expressed in the Mission Statement of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology:
The Norrhern Alberta Institute of Technology is dedicated to offering quality career education that fulfills the goals and expectations of students while serving the needs of the economy.
The Canadian Technology Accreditation Board oversees the standards of training across the provinces of Canada and an Advisory Board has the responsibility to:
Advise the Institute of skills and competencies that graduates should possess
Advise the Institute of the extent to which NAIT training is fulfilling employers' needs
Act as a planning, communications, and program promotion link between the Institute and the business/industrial sector
The Power Engineering program at NAIT demonstrates conformity among education institutes, industry and provincial certification legislation in meeting legal certification procedures. This program is geared to the certification of employees of the power industry according to provincial legislation. The Institute awards Power Engineering Fourth Class and Third Class certificates that permit the holders to sit for examinations that are recognized nationally and to apply for professional membership in the Canadian Institute of Power Engineers. Graduates with the Power Engineering Certificate Third Class are eligible for certification as a Technician as described previously.
Other programs bring professional recognition at higher or lower levels. A graduate of the Materials Engineering Technology or Air Conditioning Engineering Technology program is recognized for certification as a Technologist by the Constituent Association of the Canadian Council of Technicians and Technologists. Holders of certificates from lower level programs such as Auto Body Repair and Automotive Mechanic may seek entry into approved Apprenticeship programs sponsored by provincial authorities.
The apprenticeship Program in Designated Occupations established by Alberta Advanced Education and Career Development is one of those at a lower level. This program's responsiveness to the needs of industry is defined by the introduction to "Designated Occupations - A new approach to Training and Certification" published by Alberta Advanced Education and Career Development:
Increasingly, companies and industries of all shapes and sizes are identifying training as a priority. To improve their competitiveness, meet needs of a global market, or help their employees adapt to the new methods from the old, employers are looking for effective well-recognized training.
The Minister of Advanced Education and Career Development establishes Designated Occupations on industry recommendations defining job content, standards of performance, and conditions for issuance of an Occupational Certificate under the Apprenticeship Trades program. The standards throughout the program represent the combined effort of the Ministry of Education, the Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training Board, and review committees. There are more than fifty Designated Occupations with listed skills in fields as varied as agriculture, automotive repair, printing, metals trades, cook and hair stylist, for each of which there is a very complete and specific Occupational Profile. It is interesting to note that an occupational profile designation "Partsman (including women)" expresses gender neutrality. An International Training Initiative is a new venture by this office that should help others in organizing industrial education.
Innovation at the K-12 Level—Alachua County School Board
Cooperation between business and the academic world is not limited to universities. In Florida, local partnership between business and community schools is being promoted by the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Association of Partners in Education. In March of 1996 the organizations sponsored a convention attracting statewide attendance by teachers, volunteers, school board members, administrators, superintendents, business partners, parents and others interested in promoting school improvement through community involvement with an agenda covering a wide range of topics of interest to the various attendees.
The Alachua School Board has a specific "Partners in Education" program for which they have prepared guidelines for participants:
How businesses can benefit schools—give employees release time to tutor, mentor, motivate, provide part time employment, etc.
How schools can benefit business—provide visibility, provide choral or musical groups, etc.
The schools are encouraged to initiate these mutually-supportive arrangements with businesses and the most successful partnership is one which has a focus suited to both parties. The focus will vary from partnership to partnership but all have a common commitment to the improvement of education. This improvement is based on drawing from the community's wide variety of resources to supplement the activities covered by the regular education program. The gain for business is a better educated youth and stronger community commitment. The Gainesville Area Partnership program has more than 170 partners including banks, the Eighth Circuit Judicial Bar Association, hospitals, The National Hot Rod Association, restaurants, and others from every business sector in the area. More than 322,000 documented hours of service were contributed to 41 schools and the monetary value of the resources provided exceeded $500,000.
Alachua County's program is an example of what is being done throughout Florida and in similar programs operating elsewhere in the U. .S. These programs support the nationwide effort to improve education and the program described demonstrates a key concept of the state's Blueprint 2,000 that "A successful education system is one in which every stakeholder feels a sense of ownership and involvement in the system's programs and services".
Netherlands Revises Vocational Education To Meet Changing Demands for Technological Skills
Industry in the Netherlands has depended for many years on the national education system to graduate students who are prepared for employment. As the population has aged the demand for trained younger workers has increased. The Ministry Of Education and Science (now Ministry of Education, Culture and Science) recognized the need to reinforce the structure of the Secondary Vocational Schools (MBO) in the 1980's because technological developments increased the need for high-grade skill in the labor market. The Ministry also addressed the problems of reducing drop-out rates and increasing the number of successful MBO completions because the program is so important to economic renewal and to combating youth unemployment.
The Ministry expended a great deal of effort in revising the administration of the MBO program but also addressed the needs of industry for employees prepared for modern technology. The program has levels from apprenticeship to pre-university, and transition to university level from other categories is possible. It is interesting to note that under law both institutions and students have the right to hold one another responsible for performance and the Ministry itself examines programs regularly for proper performance.
Portugal's Program for Industrial Development
The growth of the Common Market in Europe found Portugal in one of its most distant positions, both geographically and industrially. The Portuguese government recognized the need for policies that would encourage domestic economic development to seize the opportunity for international markets offered by membership in the European Community. A contributing factor in Portugal's economy was the change accompanying its withdrawal from overseas territories. Meeting the standards of the European Community (EC) was an important first objective and in initiating a national movement, Portugal established Investimentos Comercio e Turismo Portugal (ICEP) under the Ministry of Trade and Tourism to promote its development policy. ICEP assists in establishing contacts between foreign and Portuguese investors, especially small and medium sized entrepreneurs, and government under policies and incentive programs that will be in place until 1998. These programs have attracted investments approaching $20 billion in value, 30 percent of which has been in industry. The measures under which these programs are conducted are contained in the National Industrial Policy: Measures which relate to technology are Research and Development, Industrial Quality Promotion, Use of Industrial Intellectual Property, Consolidation of Technological Infrastructures, Technical Consulting Services and Support for Technological Schools. Other measures deal with management, finance and business aspects of industrial development.
The Portuguese development policy provides for a number of technological institutes to meet the growing needs of industry and to improve employment opportunities for workers. An example is the Institute of Computer Science Engineering (INESC), a large technological research and development institute in the north with more than one hundred Ph.D.'s among its staff of more than one thousand. INESC specializes in assisting business to adapt electronic and computer systems to management and production control with its expertise in microelectronics, telecommunications, and advanced services. INESC is typical of the many technological institutes whose programs are generally keyed to the technologies of industries operating in their respective regions.
The aspects of the national industrial development policy referred to here exemplify the pervasive manner in which finance, business management, government agencies, and other sectors in the economy have been modernized to provide an integrated support base for the national economic development policy.
Inovatec: U.S. Embassy Lisbon Strategic Alliance Program
The United States Embassy in Lisbon provides assistance similar to that provided by ICEP by aiding American and Portuguese firms to make partnerships that will build on their respective strengths. The Embassy does this through registries of interested firms on both sides, seeking those who have similar interests. It has procedures that guide the American firms in supplying information on which communication with potential partners can be initiated. It does not provide financial support but listings of financiers are carried in its registry. This office is similar to those operating in many diplomatic offices.
Conclusion
These examples of agencies that participate in carrying out government development policies are typical of what may be found in many other locations and they demonstrate how such agencies may be set up to achieve similar local objectives. What is important in ensuring success is completeness and balance among agencies, recognition of potentials and limitations, and operating in a realistic time frame. The topics Infrastructure and Education indicate very strongly that governments must provide certain basic facilities upon which both public and private industrial enterprises can flourish. Little has been included on finance in this paper because that is outside the competence of the author, this important aspect of development must therefore be delegated to others.
If these sketches of what is being done to promote development through cooperation between government, industry and universities help any reader in his own efforts the paper will have achieved its purpose.
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