Innovations: US research triangle model touted
Charles A Hayes, president and CEO of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, which runs one of the oldest and largest science parks in North America, recently came to Thailand to share the US' successful model for nurturing and commercialising innova
As part of the Thai-US Creative Partnership initiative, the US Embassy recently brought in the Research Triangle Regional Partnership (RTRP)’s CEO to speak in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen. In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Hayes said the triangle thrives on its so-called “Triple Helix” model, a successful collaboration between government, academia and the business sector.
The Research Triangle Park is a 7,000-acre (2,830-hectare) development that is home to more than 170 companies employing over 38,000 full-time knowledge workers. The firms include IBM, Credit Suisse, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, Bayer CropScience, Taiwan’s HTC and SAS Software, which was created and spun off from the park.
Hayes said the RTRP’s exact model wouldn’t necessarily work here or in other parts in the world. Among other factors, the triangle was founded in a unique location near three leading research universities: Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and one of the best educated regions in the US: 46 per cent of adult population in the region has a college degree, compared to the average 35 per cent of the US and the rest of North Carolina’s population.
“Nowhere else in the US has three research universities that close together. So that’s hard to replicate,” he said.
RTRP has championed the cluster-based regional development concept, which has successfully added 50,000 net new jobs since 2009. In that year it kicked off a new five-year plan that emphasises 11 clusters: advanced medical care, agriculture biotechnology, analytical instrumentation, biological agents and infectious diseases, clean/green technologies, defence technologies, informatics, interactive gaming and e-learning, nanoscale technologies, pervasive computing, and pharmaceuticals.
Clean/green technologies (such as the so-called Smart Grid technology) and defence technologies replaced automotive and logistics technologies that were included in a previous plan, thanks to their synergies with other technologies such as interactive gaming, which has been utilised to fly drone aircraft. Geographical proximity to the Pentagon, the home of the US Defence Department, helped in that regard.
Hayes said the “Triple Helix” concept works on a collaborative model that is more difficult than the hierarchical approach because it requires the development of a “win-win” proposition. The most important factor for developing such an innovation cluster in a nation in his view is education-from pre-kindergarten to PhD.
“Give me smart people, I will show you what I can do,” he said.
But what if we don’t yet have so many good universities and smart people?
Hayes said a clear goal and clear vision could help. “I think good enough is good enough. Everyone might have the best of some things.”
