35
edits
Changes
no edit summary
= <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Encouraging faculty innovation and entrepreneurship:</span> =
<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">There is very little encouragement for the faculty to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship. Even though research commercialization exists, the process is tedious and burecrauticbureaucratic. Much of the faculty does not know about the research commercialization, and the rest does not attempt it due to its difficult and time -consuming nature. Faculty that works in innovation and entrepreneurship is mostly self-driven, or it is an important part of the courses they are giving, which tends to be the case within the Business Administration Departement. </span> One of the ways in which faculty mostly participate in innovation-focused activities is through participation in centers of investigations. This center, although very innovative in nature, do not have either the internal preparation or institutional support to effectively participate in the commercialization of product, services or assets. Having the opportunity to participate more in the process of commercialization would be a tremendous way of promoting sustainability. This internal lack of preparation in topics relating to I&E is ultimately hindering the possibility of these centers becoming more sustainable and the university to limit its spending.
The Chancellor of our University has stated multiple times that “I&E is one of his most important priorities on campus”. However, changing decades of institutional culture is not something that happens in a year. Institutional policies sometimes impede faculty innovation and entrepreneurship through research. An example of these policies are that if a professor chooses to give a selected number of hours of class, say 12hrs a week, institutional policies don’t encourage him to do research. Likewise, those professors that do develop research possess the entrepreneurship mindset in the sense that they search for funding outside the university, but whether they spin-out and commercialize their projects is still in construction. In the other hand, some professors are not aware of the commercialization potential of their projects because they have not been exposed enough to know the indicated processes. In order to change the impact that the disorientation can cause, preparation and training for professors that have research projects in every faculty should be a high priority.
<div>Despite the challenges, the University of Puerto Rico- Mayaguez has a group of champions in the faculty that keeps growing. This group has been submitting proposals for courses, programs, researches, among other successful initiatives that promote I&E. This group is the spark that will illuminate other professors and administrators to keep the momentum.</div>
= <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Actively supporting the university technology transfer function:</span> =