Blogs

Authored by:
Gayle Walters
At Large Board Member, SRAI
Johns Hopkins University
Email: gmwalters@jhmi.edu

I recently had the privilege of representing SRAI at the SARIMA 2018 annual meeting in Johannesburg. The South African Research and Innovation Management Association (“SARIMA”) is a sister organization of ours that provides a platform and framework to facilitate best practices for research and innovation management to strengthen research for the economic and social development of southern Africa. Congratulations to Ela Romanowski, President of SARIMA, and the rest of the program committee on hosting an excellent meeting.

The Conference Theme was The Research to Innovation Continuum in the 4th Industrial Revolution. The most innovative and opening session I have ever attended set the tone for the conference. The speakers (Craig Wing, Zeblon Vilakazi, and Erika Kraemer-Mbula) set the tone with the basic question where are we now, and where do we need to be? What is the 4th Industrial Revolution (IR, for short), you might ask? I did.

Seems I knew the information, but not the vernacular. The first IR was the one I learned about in school, the one that came about thanks to the steam engine and mechanization of industry. You can do your own searches to learn about all of them; but to save you a little time, here they are in order:

• mechanization
• new sources of energy; electricity, gas and oil
• digital revolution (rise of electronics), nuclear energy, biotechnology
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data Analytics

The 4th IR compels us to think not only about how we conduct research, but how the knowledge gained is managed. As cited in the May 6th, 2017 issue of The Economist, the most valuable resource the world has is now data. Artificial Intelligence techniques, such as machine learning, can provide even more value from the data. How we use these data can lead to innovative thinking that can impact end results.

Many of the presentations dealt with research, innovation, and management in a changing world. Those institutions that continue to manage and work in a legacy mind frame will be left behind. How can we, as research managers, lead the way in innovating new business models for managing research, for adjusting the ways in which we work? Where are we now, and where do we need to be? These are the take away questions I have.