Peter Leach

High Tech Slow Down – An Opportunity for Academia

By Peter Leach

Had a successful high tech career? Looking for new challenges? Ready to contribute to new ideas and to help develop the next generation of researchers? Laid-off experienced industrial researchers will soon see new opportunities with a career change. Ontario’s universities, like so many around the world, have been facing high demand for growth in science and engineering graduates, while most are facing much higher than usual faculty retirement between 2000 and 2010. This, coupled with the wide gap between academic and industrial salaries, and the seemingly unstoppable demand by industry for R&D talent, has made the university and college recruitment of top quality professors a substantial challenge. However, respite might be at hand.

Recent adjustments in the formerly unsustainable growth projections of leading high technology companies, resulting in substantial downsizing, is releasing some extremely talented industrially experienced researchers and system architects. While the people being let go cover all ages and experience, there has been an emphasis on those over 50. — a group that has accumulated broad experience, can afford and may enjoy a career change, and many of whom are ready to give back to society.

Could this provide the universities with an opportunity to rebuild their faculty with top quality, experienced researchers? Absolutely! In fact the opportunity may be even better with other recently qualified PhDs not being as hotly pursued. The opportunity to bring aggressive young faculty and experienced top industrial researchers and system architects together is a rare opportunity. It could also generate a surge of new ideas, as well as an unsurpassed quality of undergraduate and graduate education in our universities and a very high level of practical professional education in our colleges.

Is the opportunity real?

1) there is no doubt that the need is there. Universities are seeing an unprecedented number of faculty taking leave to join or to start-up companies, just at the time the universities are trying to expand the cohort of new faculty.

2) industrial researchers do not have a publication record for tenure or tenure track. Contract appointment is a viable alternative for the target group.

What will it take to attract people?

1) a realization of the opportunity by the universities, colleges, and by those qualified whose industrial careers have been derailed, together with the development of a value proposition to this targeted group which aligns with and appeals to their changed circumstances;

2) establishing links to the networks of displaced industrial researchers, which have formed spontaneously, to get the message out;

3) targeted recruitment advertising in high-technology career opportunity forums including electronic and other job placement vehicles;

4) establishing processes to fast track approvals of appointments in universities, and program application for support such as the Canada Research Chairs, so that offers and early start dates can be implemented.

As this targeted group is already in the 50 to 60 age range, a question that will arise is the impact of their retirement in the next 5 to 15 years. The current throughput increases in the academic system should provide the future flow of PhDs, some of whom will become the people who replace those recruited through this opportunity. Furthermore, the very nature of the dynamics of knowledge-based industry will allow industrially experienced people to move into academe to extend their knowledge and visa-versa. This will simultaneously improve the relevance and quality of education and maximize the transfer of knowledge into industry.

The set-back in the high technology sector therefore, is clearly an opportunity for academia that will help that sector prepare for further growth in the years to come.

Peter Leach is outgoing president of Communications and Information Technology Ontario (CITO), an Ontario Centres of Excellence.