How varsities can drive prosperity via R&D

STUDIES suggest that research-and-development (R&D) translates into increased rates of productivity through the development of better technologies and products. It is this productivity that determines a nation’s competitiveness.

Cheaper and better quality products conduce to more exports, larger incomes, and consequently, economic growth. Additionally, innovations provide us with creature comforts. And they alleviate the material conditions of humanity.

For these reasons, economists have long argued for greater spending on R&D. Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel prize-winning economist, argued in the 1960s that the private sector would not on its own produce the amount of innovation that economies need to maximise their growth. This is understandable.

The low-hanging fruits of innovation have already been plucked. It will be hard to produce innovations as momentous as a steam engine, electricity, motor car, aeroplane, internet or transistor. As ideas are hard to come by, research increasingly requires large dollops of money. Also, more and better-skilled researchers are required to squeeze significant innovations from research.

Businesses are short-term in outlook and always worrying about their sustainability. Because large buckets of money are required to generate competition-beating innovations, businesses are inimical to shelling out more dosh for R&D.

Governments, therefore, are called upon to fill in the gap. Public funding is especially needed in areas of biotechnology, renewable energy, hydrogen fuel and atmospheric decarbonisation.

Such is its central importance that developed countries spend as much as three to five per cent of their gross domestic product on R&D. Although Malaysia only spends a third of that amount, it is not short of commitment. Witness the plethora of agencies doling out research funds, even in these straitened times.

However, the government is constrained by the limited number of research institutes to embark on path-breaking research. This is where universities step in to bridge the gap between societal needs and industry averseness. Universities are potent powerhouses for innovation. Take the cases of medical research for cancer prevention, energy conservation and vaccine development for Covid-19.

University research is not altogether altruistic. It also aids universities in burnishing their credentials for external ratings as well as building capacity within. In undertaking R&D, universities do not only make a contribution to society. They also enhance their research capacity through the development of skills and the acquisition of equipment.

Additionally, learning is fostered as professors share their research findings with their students, supplementing their knowledge gleaned from textbooks. Further, better research attracts more research funds.

But, university research must be driven not by key performance indicators (KPIs) alone. Rather, they must be fuelled by the desire to solve real-world problems. If not, R&D is of little good at creating growth-boosting innovations. It may only produce more research papers. This might be alright for rankings but they do not serve society well.

Notwithstanding, universities should also pursue knowledge for its own sake. This is because basic research with little practical application extends the frontiers of knowledge. It will create a body of knowledge from which big innovations could spring forth. Such fundamental research also sharpens profound thinking that is required for the intellectual progress of society.

To move R&D to a higher level, there must be meatier collaboration between universities and businesses. Issues of intellectual property ownership, non-disclosure agreements, and access to research facilities by industry personnel impede joint research.

It is heartening that industries offer grants for industry-relevant research. Universities, therefore, should consult businesses to determine the research for which grants are available. Industries too can be aided in their search for the right research institution if a directory of researchers and their interests is available. Businesses could then link up with the relevant universities that align with their interests.

Universities, too, must mature from incremental research to more ambitious ones that solve the complex problems. In all this, university research must be guided by ethics. Its processes and its marketable innovations must also be ecologically friendly. Let not university research go aground for want of funding.