Tomorrow I will speak before a few hundred masters graduates at University of Ontario Institute of Technology, in Oshawa during their Research Day.
I asked myself what I wanted to get across to these young researchers, each hoping to create the next widget, software, hardware or process which would revolutionize our world. They come wide-eyed and open minded to the possibilities and opportunities before us, but only as much has their childhood rearing and educational path permitted.
So I decided that the theme of this elocution would be about how we often ask ourselves the wrong question. Just this morning, the receptionist at our business centre told me of a research paper which had absolutely no perceived value for her. I understood where she was coming from. I told her that we cannot pretend to fully understand the motivation of each researcher, nor who they might have been working for. It is often the case that an agenda that is unseen is present when looking at how research is conducted.
So tomorrow, my theme will be about how academia and industry often ask different questions to the same scenario. The difference of viewpoint is often not reconciled leading academia to develop things based on parameters unimportant to industry and for industry to view academia as a simple “option to support” rather than “need to support”.
I hope that what I have to say resonates and makes a difference to just one student in the audience. That is one of the measures of my success through which I will keep on smiling.
Sass
PS. Tomorrow, after the conference is over, I will post the attachment of the presentation for anyone’s viewing.