In partnership with the British Council and the Palestinian Development and Investment Company (PADICO), BZU’s Department of Business Administration and Marketing at the Faculty of Commerce and Economics hosted a one-day conference entitled “Innovative University-Private Sector Partnerships” on 15 October 2011. The conference focused on the role of university-private sector partnerships in stimulating development and accelerating innovation. It was attended by Palestinian industrialists, BZU and visiting scholars, representatives of NGOs, development and community-based organizations, and policy makers.

 

The conference aimed at shedding light on the need to develop long-lasting, innovative relationships and trust between universities and the private sector, in addition to demonstrating how collaborative relationships embedded in innovative thinking could create value for both parties, and have impact that benefits constituents and Palestinian society.

 

 

The main tenets of the conference were the following:

 

• By engaging the local private sector and encouraging it to share expertise, skills and technology, universities can accommodate the nature and needs of local firms and thus yield creative collaborative arrangements that produce highly qualified graduates and academic programs tailored to local industry needs.
• Through the support of an enabling environment, universities would benefit from opportunities on hand to increase their resources and collaborate with firms to successfully upgrade and commercialize their products through flexible licensing agreements.
• In return, the private sector should be able to effectively capitalize on universities’ knowledge-based ideas, skills, intellectual exploration and research.

 

In his opening address, the Chairperson of the Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Mr. Anton Sabella, emphasized the importance of the conference in developing key partnership programs between universities and the private sector. Sabella thanked PADICO and the British Council for supporting the conference.

 

BZU President, Dr. Khalil Hindi, addressed the pivotal role played by the private sector in financing development efforts and innovation in universities, and directing programs and curricula to ensure meeting the real needs of the market. He added that through these partnerships, the university can provide assistance to the private sector in solving technical and organizational problems that push forward the wheel of growth, development and innovation.

Dr. Hindi stated: "BZU and PADICO Holding have worked for a significant period on designing a package of academic support projects for BZU, hoping that it will include a series of lectures on leadership for success, and a training program on leadership skills for distinguished senior students.”

The CEO of PADICO Holding, Mr. Samir Hleileh, stressed the importance of developing the concept of social responsibility, and a unified and comprehensive strategic vision that includes all sectors, to empower graduates and prepare them to meet the expectations and needs of the labor market.

The Director of the British Council in Palestine, Ms. Sandra Hamrouni, stressed that the British Council’s sponsorship of this conference comes from its role in supporting higher education projects. She expressed her pleasure at working with the distinguished academic staff at BZU, saying: "We must all work to activate the potential of youth, since they play a vital role in the overall sustainable development of Palestinian society.”

The Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Economics, Dr. Mohammad Nasr, noted that the concept of this conference is built on the belief in the benefit of such a partnership, and the role played by this partnership in the development of the national economy through stimulating domestic investment, attracting foreign investment, encouraging innovation and scientific research, as well as enhancing Palestinian competitiveness, in light of the challenges of globalization and technological revolution.

Professor William Lazonick, professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Director of the UMass Center for Industrial Competitiveness presented a developmental and social vision for innovation in partnership between universities and the private sector, mainly based on the organization of relations between civil society and universities to ensure the sustainability of work. Such a vision requires that the private sector invest its efforts in organizing different roles for the interest of development and investment promotion.

The conference comprised three sessions, which addressed:

1)      Challenges to developing healthy university-private sector partnerships

2)      Alternative approaches to innovation in building university-private sector partnerships

3)      Stakeholder and constituent perspectives on university-private sector partnerships – a roundtable panel discussion