Measuring Innovation in Academia Michael Lovell Associate Dean for Research School of Engineering University of Pittsbur

1. Measuring Innovation in Academia Michael Lovell Associate Dean for Research School of Engineering University of Pittsburgh

2. Background – Motivation Bringing Innovation into Academia National Innovation Initiative™ defines innovation as the “intersection of invention and insight, leading to the creation of social and economic value.” US has historically been a leader in innovation. Our economic success has been built on innovation and the ability to create fundamentally novel products and processes. Likewise, our future success will depend on our ability to quickly adapt to accelerating technological changes.

3. Academic Challenge • Unlike industry our primary product is human capital and intellectual property • Present education challenge relates to global competition and the lack of new students entering the field • If things progress along the present course, the role of US engineers will be drastically different than in the past.

4. Global Innovation Challenge • The Internet and high-speed data networks enable knowledge tasks to be done anywhere in the world, potentially allowing US companies to achieve cost savings or at best, simply remain competitive. • High end jobs and R&D that can be moved, are now moving offshore. This is in contrast to previous manufacturing offshoring that involved low-end jobs.

5. Cost Equivalence of a $70,000 US Engineer (R. Hira, IEEE)

6. One of Many Examples “Over the next three years, a major New York securities firm plans to replace its team of 800 American software engineers, who each earns about $150,000 per year, with an equally competent team in India earning an average of only $20,000.” - Charles Schumer and Paul Craig Roberts New York Times, January 6, 2004

7. Paradigm Shift in Engineering Research and Development Primarily due to outsourcing, companies have reduced investments into R & D within the US In order to remain competitive, the US industrial sector often focuses on short term profit margins rather than the next 5-10 years. During the recent decline in the US economy, the first cuts made by most companies were in research and development departments. US companies are now looking at Universities to help drive the research and the development of the next generation of products.

8. Effects on Engineering Innovation • Traditionally, the US has been the world leader in innovation. • The country’s economic success has been built on innovation and its ability to create fundamentally new products and processes. • Likewise, our future success will depend on our ability to quickly adapt to accelerating technological changes • The question becomes, how has the new research and development model effected our innovation?

9. Effects on Engineering Innovation • The U.S. remains the lead overall developer of patentable technologies, but … • Japan, China, South Korea, and India have made substantial gains 2004 1963 Reference: United States Patent and Trademark Office

10. Production of Engineers (1999) - National Science Foundation

11. Five years later . . . . • China graduated 650,000 engineers in 2005. • 2,000 considered to be “world-class” • The rest considered equivalent to average US graduates • Prediction – Asia will have 90% of all practicing engineers by 2010. - Asia Section, The Economist, 2004, p. 35

12. Opposite Trend Occurring in US 2004 Reports by ASEE and NAE concluded that: “US engineers lead the world in innovation. This great national resource is at serious risk because America has an engineering deficit.” • While U.S. college graduation rates increased by 26% from 1985 to 2000, graduation rates for engineers decreased by 23 percent during the same period.  • 88% of K-12 teachers believe that engineering is important for understanding the world around us while only 30% of teachers feel that their students could succeed as engineers. Reference: "Engineering in the K-12 Classroom: An Analysis of Current Practices and Guidelines for the Future" (http://www.engineeringk12.org)

13. Some Fundamental Educational Questions We Are Addressing • How can we be assured that our graduates will be innovative and bring value to the workplace beyond their technical skills? • How can we prepare our graduates for excelling in an international, interdisciplinary team setting? • How do we get more pre-college students interested in engineering

14. Case Study – Swanson Center for Product Innovation Mission: to provide a mechanism for training students to be more technically innovative and entrepreneurial while fostering economic growth and development of partnering industries. The Swanson Center for Product Innovation (SCPI) Officially Opened on 4/18/01 The SCPI represents more than a $5M investment by the University of Pittsburgh. Funding was primarily provided by John Swanson, several foundations, and the University itself.

15. Case Study – What is the SCPI The SCPI closely ties together four otherwise distinct laboratories that parallel a new product’s developmental lifecycle of design, prototyping and manufacturing: 1) Bioengineering Design Lab 2) Rapid Prototyping & Reverse Engineering Lab 3) Rapid Manufacturing Lab 4) Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Lab

16. Fulfilling Our Academic Mission Multi-disciplinary Certificate Program in Product Realization A joint MBA - MSIE program with a focus on New Product Development A Doctoral Fellowship Program in Product Realization New curriculum focuses on teaching innovation, teamwork and entrepreneurship at all levels Student Projects Industrial Experience Seminars and Workshops Interdisciplinary Curriculum Education and Training Plan

17. SCPI: Addressing the Needs of Industry How Industry Works With Us……. How Industry Works With Us……. • Engineering ‘Job Shop’ projects - work is performed at an hourly rate • Sponsored Undergraduate Student New Product Development Projects (4 month duration) • Full Scale Research Projects (1-2 Years) that involve faculty and graduate students

18. SCPI: Benefits of Our Industry Partners Portal to University Technology and Resources……. • Access to more than $5 M in state-of-the-art product development equipment • The ability to develop innovative new product ideas with little capital investment • Opportunity to identify potential employees during four month long period • Introduction to other fundamentally new technology being developed at the University

19. Measuring Innovation: Increasing University Scholarship Completed more than on 75 undergraduate student projects Participated in more than 30 federally funded University research projects SCPI projects have led to the graduation of 14 MS and 10 PhD students within the SOE.

20. Measuring Innovation: Increasing University Scholarship 5 Student project teams have received National Awards (i.e. NCIIA March Madness for the Minds Competition) 7 companies have formed through SCPI technology - JackHeat, Nutren USA, Wee Know, DMS, STI, ESOC, and Firefly SCPI has submitted more than 30 invention disclosures to the Office of Technology Management SCPI has been designated the lead in two National University Networks - RAPID and ASSESS

21. Measuring Innovation: IncreasingIndustry Outreach Breadth:Completed over 500 fee for service projects with nearly 100 different companies (i.e. MSA, PPG, Respironics, Medrad, Westinghouse, ANSYS, Vocollect, Bayer) Depth: MPC Corporation Survey of SCPI Clients New/reengineered products created* 226 Reported jobs created* 263 Reported new company revenue* $13.25M *Estimated based on survey results

22. Meeting the present innovation challenges in engineering. . • Giving students real world problems and access to state-of-the-art design and prototyping tools • Imbedding a spirit of design innovation and entrepreneurship within engineering coursework • Obtaining a better understanding of different cultures and languages – international programs • Developing RET and other programs to bring innovative design based learning into the K-12 classroom