CSR as a channel for Empowering & Engaging the youth through Industry-Academia Collaboration

By R. Satya Narayanan, Founder, Sarvjeet Herald (Phd.) and Poulomi Ganguly (Phd.), CL Educate

Poulomi Ganguly did her undergraduate education in Chemistry from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, followed by a PhD in Polymer Technology from Texas A&M University, USA. She was working with a Fortune 50 MNC for the past decade and has done leadership roles in research, new product development, strategy and planning both for both India and Asia Pacific.

In her current role with CL Educate, she is responsible for the research and innovation vertical which collaborates with all stakeholders of the innovation ecosystem viz.: K-12 schools, universities, corporates and PSUs, aimed at developing and implementing the innovation framework in emerging economies.

Poulomi is also a Business Certified Scholar from the Mays School of Business, USA and a six sigma green belt.  In her free time she likes to mentor young minds on their love for science.

Academic Institutions have been traditionally assumed to act as platform to grow knowledge of students and learn. Industry on the other hand applied the knowledge practically for creating a sustainable society. The collaboration between the two is however important to truly leverage innovation for growth and emerge as global leaders.

This paper examines the role of the enabler to catalyse partnerships between academic institutions and corporations in India. Built upon two real case studies, this paper aims to demonstrate how organisations have been successful to utilise its Corporate Social Responsibility funds in igniting the spark of innovation in young minds. The first case study focuses on the role of the enabler, from working in partnership with a multinational company on creating, implementing and delivering an innovation framework of success in government aided k-12 schools. The second case study discusses on utilising the CSR funds of a large PSU body in creating growth focused centres of excellence in central and state universities.  

The enabler by working in partnership with the industry and academia not only developed the skills of the students and staff through industry engagement, but also contributed in the generation, acquisition and adoption of knowledge within the organisation (technology transfer), promoted the spirit of entrepreneurship (start-ups and spin-offs) and contributed towards creation of an innovation ecosystem in India.

Keywords: CSR, Academia, Industry, Network

1. INTRODUCTION

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) had been prevalent in India for long, however Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India has made it mandate from 1st April 2014 for companies (who fulfil the criteria as mentioned under Sub Section 1 of Section 135) to invest 2% of their net profits for CSR activities.

Chairman of the CSR Committee stated the Guiding Principle of CSR as "CSR is the process by which an organization thinks about and evolves its relationships with stakeholders for the common good, and demonstrates its commitment in this regard by adoption of appropriate business processes and strategies. Thus CSR is not charity or mere donations. CSR is a way of conducting business, by which corporate entities visibly contribute to the social good. Socially responsible companies do not limit themselves to using resources to engage in activities that increase only their profits. They use CSR to integrate economic, environmental and social objectives with the company's operations and growth."

CSR can be referred as corporate initiative to assess and take responsibility for the company's effects on the environment and impact on social welfare. It may also be referred to as corporate citizenship and can involve incurring short-term costs that do not provide an immediate financial benefit to the company, but instead promote positive social and environmental change.
By the directive of the law, Indian companies are required to form a CSR Committee who will formulate and recommend corporate social responsibility, expenditure and projects or programs that the company plans to undertake to fulfil their CSR. This committee is also responsible for monitoring process of such projects or programs led by the company and provide report. The companies should display their CSR activities on their website and should also include it in their Annual Report.
CL Educate Ltd (CL), Asia's largest edu-corporate, collaborates with both corporates and public sector undertakings (PSU) to incorporate innovation frameworks in education as a part of CSR policies. This paper focuses on the CL as an enabler for catalyzing partnerships between academic institutions and corporations for fostering deep strategic relationship for driving usable innovations from academic institutions and production of application-oriented individuals at Indian institutions.

Next section provides background on how planned CSR investments within an academic setting by the organisation can raise application-oriented citizens, produce cutting edge technologies to improve the region, but also transfer knowledge to other nations for their development – all for creating a better world. Section 3 discusses a real case study where CL as a catalyst helped an Multinational National Company (MNC) fulfil its CSR by partnering with 100 government aided K-12 schools in India for raising application-oriented skilled students who delivered innovative solution to the problems that impact society.

Section 4 discusses another case study where CL helped a PSU utilize its CSR funds for growth focused centres of excellence in central and state universities which conduct cutting edge R&D, train general public, provide their students hands-on practical experience of theory and create professional opportunities. Section 5 presents a new platform developed by CL for to creating a fertile innovation eco-system to drive useable innovations in India by collaborative effort and expedite growth of our nation into an economic powerhouse. Finally this paper concludes with the best practises for yielding successful Academia-Industry collaboration along with the importance of organisation such as CL so that companies can make maximum impact in the society from their limited CSR funds.

2. BACKGROUND

Traditionally industry partnered with educational institutes to spot talent, mainly for recruitment purposes. However, with the shift in the global economies, industry also wanted access to the faculty who were involved in the cutting edge R&D.  The interdependent academia-industry collaboration helps both entities to sustain growth in their areas and create an effective innovation ecosystem, especially through the strategic use of CSR funds.

Academic institutions can support regional and national economies, provide skilled talent and contribute in the development of the society by partnering with the industry. They can receive funding to create transferable knowledge, broaden the experience of its staff and students, support its missions and create new employment opportunities. By partnering with the industry, institutions can provide economically viable prototypes to address the problems prevalent in their regions which industry can take to market for social or commercial benefit.

Industry on the other hand, can access scholars who can help them identify important research topics that will improve innovation ability of their company and deliver innovative processes and products. The company can improve its reputation and prestige by partnering with the university. The research-based innovative outputs for example, patents and product prototypes delivered by the faculty and also involving student participation can provide companies new profitable entrepreneurial business opportunities and market leadership.    Consider for example Audi which enhances is ability to continuously innovate as an organisation and maintain market leadership by forming research partnerships with educational institutions across the world.

Audi started its first strategic partnership in 2003 with Technical University of Munich and is currently successfully running INI.TUM Competence Center in Ingolstadt where engineers and natural scientists from industry and academia work on innovative projects related to automotive engineering. The success of this partnership has been replicated across the world. For example, Audi started its Urban Future Initiative in 2010 with American Universities to make chaotic urban travel less stressful for the drivers by developing technologies that can help reduce traffic congestion, improve safety, and reduce stress on drivers.

Audi AG's Electronics Research Laboratory partnered with University of Southern California, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at San Diego and University of Michigan over a three year period to develop technologies for easing the congestion, dangers and inconveniences that often confront the drivers. The partnership allowed universities to deeply study the drivers and their surroundings in order to provide assistance systems that really help rather than distract or irritate the driver. It also opened doors for new technologies and ideas developed that would allow the vehicle to interact with the urban environment in a much more efficient way by providing improved mobility, driving comfort and safety. More importantly the universities were able to leverage on new technologies that will be available in the automobiles of the next decades.  Another research strategic partnership was started in 2010 with Tongji University in China to develop electric AL6 vehicles.

The company starts by funding innovative student and faculty projects within the university that are of importance in the automobile sector, as a part of its CSR strategy. The successful achievements of aims and objectives of the project strengthens trust in the partnership and provide first-hand experience to Audi. It then extends the relationship into research partnership where projects such as Urban Future Initiative and develop electric AL6 car are executed for a longer period of time. Thereafter, experiencing further knowledge and trust of the institution it initiates partnerships such as with INI.TUM's Competence Center in Ingolstadt.

Building on the strategy and experience of successful academia-industry collaboration of Audi and other organisation, CL Educate provides rich knowledge to its clients on making best use of their CSR funds and delivering success, in emerging economies. The following two sections will illustrate role of the CL is enabling successful partnerships.

3. CASE STUDY: PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN MULTINATIONAL COMPANY & GOVERNMENT AIDED SCHOOLS

The Corporate Social Responsibility department of a multinational corporation (MNC) approached CL Educate Ltd (CL) to foster partnerships with one hundred government-aided K-12 schools in India. This MNC which has previously enjoyed successful academia-industry collaboration in developed economies and had a clear goal from the envisioned partnership. They were interested in delivery of innovative prototypes from the students which could potentially lead to valuable Intellectual Properties, spin-offs or start-ups. The intention behind students building and demonstrating prototypes to the organisation was to inculcate creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills in K-12 students.  The MNC as a social responsibility wanted to prepare leaders of tomorrow and make them application-oriented so that they can apply their knowledge in different situations and deliver solutions which can be utilised for social or commercial purposes. The high level goal was to bring a shift in the mindset of educators and students in government schools, and show that project-based learning could lead to personal and professional development of the students.

CL Educate as a catalyst developed a learning framework known as the Conceptual Research Experience (CRE)(Reference) and set out the project objectives as the following:

• To enable students of Grades 8 & 9, to become active learners, who can apply their knowledge to identify problems that impact their surroundings and provide innovative solutions.
• To empower school teachers to become creators of sustainable innovation ecosystems in their schools.
• To drive the culture of raising young innovators in government schools and serve as exemplary role models for other institutions.

The CRE program is aimed to enhance an attitude of questioning and wonder, where failure and confusion are not only accepted, but expected; and where technology is not perceived as a solution but rather as a context and tool for enquiry. In brief, the goal of CRE program is to deliver an original, innovative, research based answer to the question asked by the student.

The project is set out by identifying 100 government aided schools in India whose leadership are progressive and forward-thinking. The school leaders are provided orientation on the projects, its vision, expectations, training method and delivery of prototypes. Around the same time, Research Aptitude Test (RAT) is conducted within the school to identify the 10 teachers and 100 students from the school.

CL's Research Mentor work with the school leadership to identify a Lead Mentor from the School, promising subject teacher who can serve as a role model for other teachers and student participating in the project from the school. The research mentor from CL, lead mentor from the school, others teachers responsible for mentoring and the students work in a tripartite collaboration model as shown in the figure below.

The project execution is divided into various phases which constant review and monitoring at each stage by the steering committee.

CRE Training Process

CRE program is aimed to enhance an attitude of questioning and wonder, where failure and confusion are not only accepted, but expected; and where technology was not perceived as a solution but rather as a context and tool for enquiry. In brief, the goal of CRE program is to deliver an original, innovative, research based answer to the question asked by the student [6].

CRE program is suitable for students from classes 7th to 12th and is delivered through web casts and monthly school visits. The training process is divided into the following 6 core stages:

• Stage 1: Identifying Students
• Stage 2: Topic Identification
• Stage 3: Literature Review
• Stage 4: Abstract Submission
• Stage 5: Full Paper Writing
• Stage 6: Conference Presentation

Stage 1: Identifying Students
A research expert conducts seminar(s) in the school for interacting with the students and informing students about the importance of having a differentiating value-added profile for gaining competitive advantage from others. The session is aimed to spark curiosity among the students, arouse students about something that they are naturally motivated to learn and drive interesting questions from them which they are willing to answer. For example, What Beatles single lasted longest on the charts, at 19weeks?, What does the term’ dinosaur’ actually mean? Or Why India is not using Thorium to generate Electricity?

The curiosity driven students from the session are asked to submit a short essay (2 page/1000words). The following questions are addressed in the essay by students:

• Their Question (in less than 10 words) as the title of the essay
• Previous Reading conducted Related to answering the question
• Summary of Potential Answers from their previous readings
• Practical Use of their answer

The questions students ask could be related to any field ranging from science and commerce to humanities and arts. They are asked to write an essay answering the above questions in order to ensure feasibility of the project, within the available resources and process time-frame. The essay by students also informs the research expert about the current state/attempts made by the student for answering the question.

A research expert, who is a PhD degree holder along with having Portfolio of publications in the area of the question asked by the student, invites students ’for a 1:1 web session. In this session, research expert explores student's question in detail along with the possible lines of enquiries. Students who demonstrate Curiosity, Creativity, Imagination and Oral Skills by further asking questions, and willingness to learn and share their answer with the global audiences are selected into the CRE program.

The selected students are segmented into a group of maximum 3 students by the subject expert, based on the similarity in their questions and integration of multi-disciplines. In case, questions of students do not overlap, they are asked to work individually.

Stage 2: Topic Identification

The questions asked by the students are further framed into a research topic in this phase. It is vital because the way person frames a complex issue or problem has significant influence on how they seek to understand it and solve. It is also equally important consuming and interpreting information from the surroundings and largely from the world. A well-framed topic of research will help the students to communicate their observations, results and understanding to the global audiences.

Students are guided to the most recent review papers based on their question for the initial investigation. The study of review papers provide them broad awareness and most up-to-date knowledge of the practises and problems prevalent in their area of interest. They are asked to de-construct their questions into micro problems for which the gap in knowledge (in literature) from their view is evident and could be shown as an concrete evidence in the final report or the research publication.

The students, in groups or individually, are also asked in this phase to write a project plan. This helps them to organize complex phenomenon in a coherent, understandable categories and separate relevant aspects of a given phenomenon from the irrelevant aspects. The project plan, written by student, contains aims and objective of the research enquiry, gap in knowledge which their research will fill, practical use cases of the research and the time-frame using Gantt-Chart. The schedule of their activities, written by the student, provides them a strong sense of accountability to meet themselves and the project stakeholders.

All together, the project plan equips students with Agility and Adaptability skills as they frame the question into a feasible research topic. It develops their initiative and entrepreneurial skills as they seek out new opportunities, ideas and strategies for improvement. Project Plan also improves their ability to communicate through writing. The topic identification step emphasizes the value of clarity and order, seeking to organize activities and plans driven by theory which becomes lens for interpreting facts in the next stage of the process.

Stage 3: Literature Review
Literature Review stage assumes messiness, focuses on multiple theoretical perspectives, is tentative in application, comes with a belief in de-constructing the reading and questioning what one thinks as a fact through self-reflection and is driven more by bottom-up notions of the richness of practise. The aims of the Literature Review stage are:

• Minimize Contextual Gap
• Propose Innovative Solution
• Apply and Validate Solution

Stage 3a: Minimize Contextual Gap
Contextual Gap is defined as the difference in the context of the article written by author(s) and how the student understood the article after reading. It is used to test the conceptual understanding of the student using Active Reviews.
Active Review capture snapshot of an article in about 500 words and incubates deep-learning skill among the students. An article could be for example, scholary research article, book, blog or even market-report depending on the student's research project. Students as a part of their Literature Review are guided to multiple articles and asked to prepare Active Reviews by answering the following questions:

• Aims and Objective of the article
• Problem
• Solution
• Results
• Practical Applications
• Relevance of the article to the Project of the Student

Active Reviews written by the student is examined by the mentor who is PhD expert in the subject area of the student's project. Mentors award students a sore out of TEN based on their understanding and also provides constructive feedback to the student. Since mentor is an external entity, it is assumed that the award of score and feedback will remain unbiased.

These small but regular assessments through Active Reviews provide, both students and the mentor, to convert the weaknesses of the student into strengths and improve student understanding across multiple disciplines. This step develops critical thinking skills in the student, and introduces abilities to access and analyse complex information in a simple manner. It also significantly influences student's ability to creatively and innovatively think and pendown those thoughts in mind clearly in writing. The better understanding of concept allows students accept or reject information based on analysing relevance of the projects undertaken by them (even in future).

Stage 3b: Propose Innovative Solution

After completing the Literature Review (or at times during the review process) students are asked to propose a solution to the problem identified in the previous step (and recorded in the project plan) based on their improved conceptual understanding on the topic. This step ensures that students have clear and feasible strategy to deliver an innovative solution at the end of the research project. It is very important that students are strategically aligned to deliver a good quality innovative solution (could be a process, product service, argument, feasibility report, etc.) and also to prove the improvement by comparing with existing knowledge in the literature.

The students are asked to update section of their project plan (left blank previously) with the proposed solution including methodology, interpretation and validation of results which is reviewed by the mentor.

Stage 3c: Apply and Validate Solution

Students further progress in their research by following the project plan to deliver the proposed solution. They conduct experimentation (e.g., surveys, stimulations or in labs using equipment) and apply their understanding into new situations. This cross application of concepts for solving practical problems allows them to demonstrate correlation between having a qualification and doing well in higher education and workplace. The experimental results are validated by student by comparing it with the existing knowledge in order to demonstrate superior quality. The students are asked to document the application and validation of their solution to a prevailing problem.

CRE program trains school students to deliver quality innovations from an early stage. It is this superior quality of innovation by research practise that will help expedite growth of India into an economic powerhouse.

Stage 4: Abstract Submission

Depending upon the innovation and it's field, a suitable conference in India or abroad is identified by the mentor for submitting the research work of the student (the work may also be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication). Students are asked to prepare abstract for submission to a conference. They are able to clearly summarise their research work in few words due to their experience in creating snapshots of the research articles by Active Reviewing.

An Abstract is around 300 word summary of the student's research project. It provides very brief outline on the project background, gap in knowledge, proposed solution, analysis, results, and validation and benefits of the research and/or practical applications of the innovative solution delivered through the research. The mentor reviews the abstract, asks the student to electronically submit the abstract.

Stage 5: Full Paper Writing

Students acquire technical writing skills throughout the research process. They acquire it by developing a project plan, regularly preparing Active Reviews and documenting the research at every step. This documentation not only helps the mentor in monitoring the progress made by the students throughout the CRE training, but also provides plenty of already available materials, prepared by the students in their own words, ready to be converted into a formal piece of technical writing, also known as The Research Paper. This formal document is reviewed by the panel of international subject area experts.

Stage 6: Conference Presentation

The acceptance of research paper by the expert panel set-up by the body organizing the conference, provides student the invitation to attend and present the work to global audience of experts. The students are tested for the authenticity and originality of the research work, and the expert audience from around the world authenticate whether the work has been done by the students by asking various questions related to the research paper. The paper of the student eventually gets published as a permanent piece of innovative contribution to the knowledge and helps drive India's ranking to the top in the Global Innovation Index.

Presenting research work at international conferences is not only prestigious, it also boosts the morale of the students and increase their engagement with academics. The opportunity they get to meet and interact with the thought-leaders and experts at the conference, help students capture a true snapshot of the career they are dreaming for in the future. Moreover, networking with the thought-leaders and experts beyond the conference, could earn them a valuable letter of recommendation for entry into the world leading institutes (often with a scholarship) as these leaders have already experienced the quality of student's work and potential to perform excellent in the future endeavours.

Table 1: Addition of 7 Surviving Skills of 21st Century in Students through CRE

4. CASE STUDY: PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN PSU & GOVERNMENT INSTITUTES
CSR department of a large Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) has been focused on contributing towards education, and promotion of non-conventional and renewable energy sources, and related skills in various ways. However, all their investments were disconnected from each other, focused on donation of assets without the monitoring required for effective utilization of assets.

CL works with the PSU for drafting a new framework which interconnects their core focus. The aim is to create growth focused centres of excellence (CoE) and academic chairs in central and state universities in India, for carrying out research and development in the field of developing new and emerging electrification technologies with a view to harness the knowledge and insight and skill of technical professionals for larger cause of making power available on sustainable and affordable manner.

CL Educates' research and innovation arm classifies Universities and academic peronnel on its research footprint.  CL ‘s recommendations on University's strong focus areas, enables PSU to select institutes based on their proven track record and strong faculty to carry out the aims and objectives of the CSR corpus, for a term of 5 years (renewable based on the performance). These PSU's objectives for the CoE are:

• To conduct cutting-edge R&D in multidisciplinary areas
• To disseminate the advanced knowledge and transfer technology.
• To provide students hands-on practical experience of theory
• To provide training to people interested in a starting career the electrical sector.
• To provide consultancy services.

PSU provided the hands on industrial experience, their resources, equipments, training and mentorship. The institute provides infrastructure, space, staff and students to the lab. CL's role is program management and delivery.  CL was also responsible for avoiding project duplicity through its WAIN network which will be discussed in the next section.

5. WORLDWIDE INDUSTRY ACADEMIA NETWORK (WAIN)

Benefits to the Academic Institutions:

• Students and Faculty members get a chance to work on real research problems provided by the Industry.
• Improved research output and publications. Higher standing in various National and Global ranking frameworks.
• Ability creation to attract research funds from government and corporates.
• Enhancement in Students' skills to improve their employability factor and ensure quality placements.
• Attract smart students and top-class faculty members to the institution.
• Improvement in infrastructure through new age technologies and learning mechanisms.

Benefits to the Corporate:

• Greater access to young researchers with multiple capabilities to facilitate R&D.
• Greater exposure to academic research; high visibility, branding and an amazing CSR initiative.
• New Innovation and Technology Improvements in collaboration with premier institutes. Publication credit and intellectual property ownership.
• Massively expand scale of R&D operation and get first hand access to new disruptions.
• Wider choice of students for the companies (expanding the pool). Best regional and integral selection of candidates for a particular company.
• Best fit of candidates for the company which will avoid employees leaving early from a company after a short stint again decreasing the cost to the company.

The WAIN was officially launched on 8th September 2016 in New Delhi, India by CL.  This high profile event was attended by leading luminaries from academia and industry including Apple India, Amazon, ICICI Lombard, Samsung, SAIL, Dibrugarh University, Bennett University, Chitkara University, Shiv Nadar Schools, Thapar University, Chandigarh University to name a few. The launch also witnessed thought provoking panel discussion on the innovation landscape in the country and also threw light on the need to enable innovation in institutions.

6. CONCLUSION
The above case studies are a reflection of how corporations in India have utilized CSR funds effectively to create inclusive innovation ecosystems. The paper also demonstrates that wise and planned spending of CSR can yield benefit to society and make an impact.

REFERENCES

• BIH. (2015). Retrieved 27 January 2017, from http://finance.bih.nic.in/Documents/CSR-Policy.pdf
• Edmondson, G.,  Valigara, L., Kenward, M., Hudson, R., & Belfield, H. (2012). Making Industry-University partnerships Work: Lessons from Successful Collaborations. Science | Business Innovation Board AISBL
• Lavrinc, D. (2014). This Audi Can Predict When a Parking Space Will Open Up. WIRED. Retrieved 27 January 2017, from https://www.wired.com/2014/01/audi-urban-intelligent-assist/
• Herald, S., George, G., Sharma, A., & Ganguly, P. (2017). Enabling Students with 21st Century Competency Skills for Delivering Innovation. International Journal of Research in Education Methodology.
• Herald, S., & Ganguly P. (2016). Raising Young Innovators through Conceptual Research Experience. Transitions in Global Education.