I found this Economist article very motivating. Universities are unique hubs of ideas, people, and resources where more patient money can tackle challenges of large scale. Nurturing talent to cross domain boundaries, and offering tools to make it easier do so will yield a payback in fostering innovation.
The global campus : the best universities now have worldwide reach
It is not just meetings of the rich and powerful that are getting increasingly cosmopolitan. Global universities are “reshaping the world”, argues Ben Wildavsky, the author of “The Great Brain Race”. Because big problems often transcend borders, many ambitious students demand a global education.
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The best American universities are nothing like the stereotype of isolated ivory towers. Take the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), founded in 1861 to accelerate the industrialisation of America. Its ties with business are now intimate and global. Companies fund much of its research. Staff and students collaborate with established firms and set up a prodigious number of their own. A study in 2009 by the Kauffman Foundation, a think-tank in Missouri, estimated that MIT alumni had founded 25,800 companies that were still active, employing 3.3m people and generating annual sales of $2 trillion. “It’s a very entrepreneurial culture,” says Susan Hockfield, MIT’s president.
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Ms Hockfield, a neuroscientist, is excited by the potential of collaboration across disciplines. In the 20th century technological progress was driven by the convergence of engineering and physics, which yielded electronics. In the 21st century the hot area will be the convergence of engineering and biology, she predicts. For example, MIT’s cancer-research centre is staffed by a mix of biologists and engineers. Its projects include making nanoparticles that can destroy cancer cells. Another team at MIT, led by Angela Belcher, has found a way to make genetically modified viruses synthesise the cathodes and anodes of lithium-ion batteries at room temperature. This saves energy and uses no harmful organic solvents.
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“All the interesting problems cross boundaries,” says David Ellwood, the dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Some straddle borders. Some straddle disciplines. Some require co-operation between business, government, academia and non-profit groups. “So you have to train people to cross boundaries … leaders need “an incredible curiosity”.
posted by Will Snow
