Meeting Global Challenges German-U.S. Innovation Policy: Summary of a Symposium (2012) / Chapter Skim
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Panel IV: Growing Universities for the 21st Century
Panel IV: Growing Universities for the 21st Century
Pages 88-100
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From page 88... ...
Mayer said, was that the German research system -- specifically the public research system -- had evolved under certain federal constraints, and its institutional form could be understood only in that context. Second, apart from "this very peculiar historical development," the science system actually functions very well "as a differentiated field between
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From page 89... ...
Cole, "The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensible National Role, Why It Must Be Protected," Public Affairs, 2010. 25 The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was an umbrella organization for many institutions, testing stations, and research units.
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From page 90... ...
national laboratories of the Department of Energy, each focused on a long-term "grand challenge." • The Leibniz Association consists of 87 institutions that conduct application-oriented basic research and provide scientific infrastructure. He elaborated on the Leibniz model, which he called "a kind of a hybrid of research, where we combine basic research, applied research, research infrastructures, and the big research museums.
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From page 91... ...
The Leibniz institutes are totally independent, legally and financially, but they have a close relationship with the resident states, and this can lead to different types of innovation. University institutes found to be innovative can sometimes develop into a full-fledged Leibniz institute, and Liebniz scientists often hold joint professorships in universities.
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From page 92... ...
The number of publications in Germany has doubled over the last 10 to 20 years." And in Europe, Germany has consistently increased its university rankings over the past three years, according to the European Research Council The same applies, he said, when comparing the different research associations and calculating the number of published pages and the number of publications. In a recent paper on innovation performance in the European Union, Germany was exceeded only by "the fairly small Scandinavian countries," which recurs "in a number of indicators of innovation performance.
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From page 93... ...
But in fact they generate many kinds of capital: creative capital, knowledge capital, human capital, social capital, financial capital, and natural capital in many ways." In short, he said, their "product portfolio" is much broader than we have tended to think. In addition, universities have always had natural roles as conveners, bringing people together from all parts of their communities, and as developers, reflecting their substantial real estate presence.
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From page 94... ...
Proenza said that the image of a "world that is flat" was not accurate in his experience -- that economies are uneven and "spiky." "If you look at economic activity, it tends to ‘spike' in these regions of high activity, and that tends to be near universities. Thousands of institutions containing specialists can add huge value to the economy." He showed a satellite picture of Germany, taken at night, revealing that the concentration of economic activity and talent is quite different from features of geopolitical maps.
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From page 95... ...
"It's almost anathema for a research university to collaborate with a community college, but we did so -- with two of them -- and initiated a series of initiatives." One is called Operational Excellence, by which the UA and the colleges formed a voluntary partnership with three main goals: to increase educational efficiency by sharing services (such as IT) ; promoting all phase of job growth, from discovery of knowledge to application; and lowering the cost and time of degrees through more efficient learning pathways.
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From page 96... ...
It created an Akron Innovation Campus that, separate from the university, purchased three buildings and started a series of programs staffed by a group of senior fellows and retired volunteer executives with many skills and a will to help. This group has developed networks to bring business and academic people together; started an angel network to fund small startups; started a women's angel network and a student venture fund; and served the technology transfer needs of small firms.
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From page 97... ...
One strategy recommended by Salmi is to "pick winners" -- in the sense of focusing public resources on a small group of successful universities. The German Excellence Initiative follows this strategy in giving a few German universities a chance to close the gap with the best research universities worldwide.
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From page 98... ...
The clusters attempted to concentrate and focus the research potential of German universities so as to increase international visibility of one particular aspect of their research. This approach encouraged universities to concentrate on auspicious, forward-looking priorities within their research activities and connected them to industrial partners and non-university researchers.
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From page 99... ...
The selection processes will filter out the best-performing students and perhaps achieve a goal of reducing the number of university places. Unless political changes block the process, it will be possible for the universities to establish exclusive courses for very small numbers of talented students.
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From page 100... ...
So we can now say that, according to the third European Union Report on Science and Technology Indicators, four of our universities of excellence are in top 10 in Europe, with the Technical University of Munich in third place, Freiburg University in sixth place, tied with Karlsruhe, and Heidelberg in ninth place. "That's important," he said; "you have to be visible to attract the best talent in the world, professors as well as students.
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