C-ENGINE
[Accurately conveying the true value of doctoral human resources] I want to connect research internships to opportunities for innovation creation
The value of doctoral personnel is not only in their expertise! Doctoral human resources who can step into unexplored areas and who can turn zero into one will be properly evaluated, play an active role in society, and create innovation. We will promote the use of research internships for this purpose.
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The true value of doctoral candidates lies not only in their superior knowledge, insight, and skills in a specific specialized field, but also in their ability to move forward with research in unexplored areas where answers cannot be found. The perspectives and abilities cultivated through the pursuit of academic theory are transferable and enable us to grasp the essence of complex social issues. By
demonstrating these transferable skills, doctoral candidates should be able to play an active role not only in research positions but also in various social situations. We believe that by demonstrating this through research internships, society can correctly evaluate and utilize the value of doctoral human resources. We sincerely hope that doctoral candidates will play an even more active role in society, and that they will play a role in supporting the foundation of a knowledge society. This is what we at C-ENGINE would like to achieve: to actively utilize C-ENGINE’s research internships as an opportunity to create innovation and new value.
*Our company supports April Dream, which aims to make April 1st the day to share your dreams. This press release is a dream of “C-ENGINE”.
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We would like to collaborate with industry and academia to develop the next generation of researchers who will be responsible for innovation, and contribute to the creation of new value through the exchange of people and knowledge between multiple universities and multiple companies. We want to play a role as an engine for producing innovative human resources in Japan. The name C-ENGINE
(Industry-Academia Collaborative Innovation Human Resources
Development Council) reflects this idea.
Started as a subsidy project from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2013, it currently supports 20 universities, mainly Japan’s leading research universities such as the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and Tohoku University, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Toray Industries, and Daikin Industries. With the participation of 30 global companies such as stock companies, we are promoting research internships aimed primarily at doctoral students in the sciences, where they work on corporate research and development over the medium to long term. Even after the subsidy project ended, C-ENGINE continued to operate independently, and this January marked the 10th anniversary of C-ENGINE’s establishment. We have conducted over 700 internships and created various good practices. Through this experience, doctoral human resources (those who have completed a doctoral program at a university for a certain period of time and obtained a doctoral degree) are working not only in universities and national research institutes, but also in research and managerial positions in companies, and in the government (central/local). We hope that they will play an active role in all aspects of society, including as employees of NPOs and NGOs, and contribute to building the foundations of a knowledge society.
Research internships as a place to demonstrate and evaluate the potential abilities of doctoral candidates
In recent years, expectations have begun in various places that doctoral human resources will become key players in solving social issues. We also want doctoral candidates to play an active role not only in universities and national research institutes, but also in all aspects of society, including research and managerial positions in companies, government (central/local) and NPO/NGO employees. , we hope to contribute to building the foundations of a knowledge society. On the other hand, the current situation is that the use of doctoral human resources in industry has not progressed yet, and industry often does not have a way to properly evaluate their abilities. At C-ENGINE, we believe that research internships can be used by doctoral students who become doctoral candidates to demonstrate their potential abilities, and where third parties can understand and evaluate their abilities. This is precisely the significance of research internships for doctoral students.
What are the abilities of doctoral personnel?
Generally speaking, the high level of expertise of doctoral candidates tends to attract attention. So, in cases where there is no match in terms of expertise, is it difficult to find the value of a doctoral candidate? At C-ENGINE, we know that the abilities of doctoral human resources are not limited to their high level of expertise. In the thesis research for doctoral students to obtain their degrees, they search for unexplored areas in a certain field, what problem they want to solve, and how solving it can contribute to the existing body of knowledge. We will clarify the issue and consider ways to resolve the issue. Since you are stepping into unexplored territory, it is essential that you have the knowledge, intellectual ability, and research-related skills you need in your university curriculum. Knowledge and intellectual abilities include, for example, information gathering ability, mathematical ability such as data science, analysis/synthesis ability, logical thinking ability, insight, and argument development ability. Skills related to conducting research include basic methods of conducting research and awareness of safety and compliance. By making full use of these skills in the process of doctoral research, students will acquire not only specialized knowledge but also the overall ability to complete their research. We believe that this is the value of doctoral human resources.
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*C-ENGINE presents RISE as a transferable skill that researchers should acquire. We encourage students to become aware of these skills and work on self-development through participation in a research internship. (About RISE: https://www.c-engine.org/student/detail-2/) A research internship where doctoral candidates can become aware of the skills they need and connect them to development.
Doctoral course students demonstrate the abilities and skills mentioned above to complete their dissertations, so you can see that they already have considerable capabilities as researchers. On the other hand, in the future knowledge society, it is necessary to take the perspective of solving various social issues in order to realize the sustainability of society and the diverse happiness of each individual. Due to their nature, social issues require researchers, policy makers, investors, and others from a variety of specialized fields to work together as a team. Therefore, in order for doctoral personnel to become key players in solving social issues, they need to develop skills related to relationships with others and society, including teamwork and communication with experts in different fields. For awareness and development of these skills, it is more effective to gain experience outside of a company, rather than in a university laboratory. By collaborating with a variety of people, you will also gain new insights into areas of self-development such as time management, stress management, and career design skills. In this way, it is possible to develop the abilities and skills necessary for researchers more effectively by utilizing research internships conducted in collaboration with universities and companies, rather than completing them at universities alone.
Issues regarding promotion of research internships
By experiencing a corporate research and development field for a certain period of time, students in the doctoral course will gain a variety of insights that will help them play an active role in society in the future, and will be able to seize opportunities for significant growth. On the other hand, when companies accept research internships, they are often surprised by the way doctoral candidates approach research issues and their ability to promote research. At C-ENGINE, we have been promoting research internships that allow participants to understand each other over a certain period of time, but we would like to encourage more students and companies to participate in this project. There are still many issues to be solved before it can be used effectively.
Doctoral students must complete their doctoral thesis within a certain number of years. Because we are conducting research in unexplored areas, we must carry out our research while feeling a great deal of pressure on a daily basis.
In the process, it seems that obtaining a doctoral degree or continuing research becomes an end in itself, and the research itself and the purpose and motivation for obtaining the degree become blurred. Or, the research subjects handled in doctoral research are not always intended to be used in society, so you may not be able to find a connection between your research and society, and you may find yourself unable to broadly envision your career design after obtaining your doctoral degree. There seems to be something missing. As a result, they wish to be evaluated based on their specific expertise or knowledge, and instead of having an image of being active in industry, they become fixated on career paths at universities or national research institutes. We believe it is important for these students to know that they can play an active role not only in academia as a researcher, but also in various areas of society, and that research internships provide an opportunity to develop the abilities and skills necessary to do so. Masu.
Many companies are proactive in hiring people who have completed master’s programs who have acquired knowledge, intellectual ability, and the basic ability to carry out research. It has been thought that it is more reasonable to do so. There also seems to be a negative view of doctoral candidates, such as being assertive and difficult to use, only showing interest in areas close to their field of expertise, and tending to neglect work associated with research. This is a trend unique to Japanese companies, and in developed countries in Europe and America, many PhD holders are leaders in research and management. In recent years, there has been a movement among Japanese companies to make more active use of doctoral human resources. This is because, in a society where the future is unpredictable and rapidly changing, the idea that human resources strategies that are integrated with business strategies is necessary has become pervasive among management. In order to widely understand that doctoral personnel actually have the ability to move things forward with high research driving force in fields other than their own specialized fields, we have created an image of the recruitment, training, and utilization of doctoral personnel, regardless of the humanities or sciences. We need to suggest possible research internships.
The mission of a university is research, education, and social contribution. Naturally, budgets are prioritized for research in priority areas designated by the government, so competition for competitive funding in this area is fierce. Doctoral course students are naturally affected by this, so it is currently difficult to devote time to anything other than research. The same is true when aiming to publish in a journal with a high impact factor, and there is an atmosphere in which it is unacceptable to be absent from the laboratory for a month or two for a research internship. In
particular, there is a strong image that internships and job hunting are related, and some doctoral students who want to get a research job in academia in the future feel that participating in an internship means “getting a job” (= giving up on a career in academia). Some people are worried that they may give the impression that they are “tanda” to those around them. In recent years, universities have taken measures to strengthen financial support for doctoral students and are actively working to support career path building, and the hurdles for participating in research internships are lowering. We will provide more active support to university faculty and staff so that there is a common understanding within the university that research internships can be an opportunity for industry and academia to collaborate in the true sense of the word in research, education, and social
contribution. I would like to receive the following.
Overcoming the above challenges and promoting research internships is no easy task. In reality, doctoral course students’ participation in research internships is currently limited to those who meet various conditions. For example, your thesis research is progressing smoothly (easily obtaining permission from your supervisor), your supervisor is encouraging you to participate in a research internship, and your research time is flexible (for theoretical research, etc.). In either case, you must have a clear purpose and intention to participate in a research internship. Unfortunately, the proportion of doctoral students like this is by no means large. However, considering the total number of students enrolled in doctoral programs, we believe that there is still room for many more students to participate. In addition, through CHI’s exchange events (research exchange meetings between doctoral students and companies), we provide opportunities for students who are unable to participate in research internships for a certain period of time due to various conditions to interact with people at companies. Masu.
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*The above events are for 2023.
In order to overcome these challenges, we, as C-ENGINE, declare that we will work on the following:
We will continue to vigorously create spaces for the exchange of “people” and “knowledge” through event planning that takes advantage of the strengths of the consortium, which involves both universities and companies.
In addition to holding briefing sessions to gain the understanding of faculty members, we are actively carrying out PR and awareness activities within each university, as well as planning events for students, so that the program is known as a general activity within the university. Masu.
In order to expand the range of internships that students can choose from, we will further strengthen our efforts to solicit companies that support research internships, and present possibilities to students based on a variety of case studies.
By analyzing and considering data from past examples, we provide member companies with information on themes that will attract more talented students to apply, matching know-how that will produce better results, and implementation details. We will provide you with useful information.
We will continue to appeal our philosophy to students, faculty, staff, companies accepting departments, and government officials through various opportunities, and increase the number of people who understand and cooperate with us.
For research internships to be incorporated into the innovation ecosystem As we have already mentioned, we hope that research internships will be used as an opportunity to create innovation. Collaborative research is a typical initiative for creating innovation in industry and academia, and research internships can also be used to find the seeds for this kind of research. I believe that the first step is to create as many good practices as possible.
One concrete way to create good practices is to involve students’ supervisors in implementing research internships. In other words, we involve faculty members and conduct internships with a view to developing joint research. To this end, we need people who understand corporate research and can take the lead in optimal matching with university research resources. It is desirable for human resources who are not affiliated with either universities or companies and can take on these roles from a neutral standpoint to mediate the matching between universities and companies. We believe that we can provide support for manufacturing. For example, young researchers who have completed their degrees within a few years can be appointed as advisors for such matching, and by collaborating with each
university’s URA to build and strengthen networks in each field, they can explore universities’ research resources. make it possible. Traditional joint research is carried out after deciding on a specific theme, so the research frame becomes a given base, and when doctoral students participate, they can enjoy the real thrill of creating a research frame from scratch. you can’t. On the other hand, if C-ENGINE’s research internship can match research resources between companies and universities at the idea level, it can be used for POC (Proof of Concept). We would like to create a society where people can use initiatives like this as an opportunity to create innovation. Promoting industry-academia collaboration across borders will lead to even more effective exchanges of people and knowledge
Last October, C-ENGINE signed an MOU with Mitacs, a Canadian government-affiliated NPO, regarding mutual utilization of research internships. Although the scale is completely different, the vision and activities of Mitacs are highly compatible with those of C-ENGINE, and we plan to develop a global internship system that leverages the strengths of industry and university research in both Japan and Canada. Improvement and promotion are expected. Mitacs has the above-mentioned matching advisors located at major universities, leading to the implementation of 15,000 research internships a year. Through this collaboration, we hope to continue our activities as a consortium while discussing more effective matching mechanisms and the ideal form of industry-academia collaboration.
Please help us develop the next generation of innovation-promoting talent. By continuing these activities, we believe it is no wonder that we will be able to conduct around 500 research internships a year to create innovation. However, for this to happen, it is necessary to further increase the number of collaborators who agree with C-ENGINE’s philosophy. By getting more universities, global companies, leading start-up companies, and small and medium-sized enterprises to participate, and further collaborating with overseas universities and companies outside of Canada, we are making more active use of research internships. I would like to have it. Research internships are an initiative to develop future innovative human resources, and are also an initiative that allows researchers to find the seeds of innovation creation. We are looking forward to the participation of all universities and companies who support this consortium activity!
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*The title of the 10th anniversary commemorative magazine for C-ENGINE, “Learning/Experiencing,” is a phrase from Lu Kun’s “Meaning Words,” “The Path of Prejudice,” “Shijunzi, weekdays, lectures on affairs, experiencing being, but sometimes wishing.” They can only understand 35 minutes.If they don’t attend the conference at all, they’ll be nothing more than a paper boat.”Students spend their days at university honing their research and accumulating a variety of experiences.” .A research internship is a valuable opportunity to self-assess the qualities and abilities you have acquired.Even if you are not able to demonstrate your 100% potential, the experience should serve as fuel for your further growth.” It was set with all that in mind. (C-ENGINE 10th anniversary magazine:
https://www.c-engine.org/2024/01/20/7825/)
“April Dream” is a project by PR TIMES in which companies broadcast their dreams that they hope to eventually come true on April 1st. We are seriously aiming to make this dream come true.
More details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000008.000113118.html