[论文解读] The Future of Computing Research: Industry-Academic Collaborations

N. Boules, Khari Douglas+9 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Jun 29, 2016

Big Data and Business Intelligence被引用 6

一句话总结

本白皮书由计算社区委员会（Computing Community Consortium, CCC）撰写，探讨了计算研究领域产业与学术界合作的演变格局，倡导通过加强合作以维持美国在创新领域的领导地位。报告提出可操作的建议，旨在将圆桌对话扩展为国家级倡议，强调需要开展敏捷、高影响力的科研工作，弥合产业短期需求与学术长期发现之间的鸿沟。

ABSTRACT

IT-driven innovation is an enormous factor in the worldwide economic leadership of the United States. It is larger than finance, construction, or transportation, and it employs nearly 6% of the US workforce. The top three companies, as measured by market capitalization, are IT companies - Apple, Google (now Alphabet), and Microsoft. Facebook, a relatively recent entry in the top 10 list by market capitalization has surpassed Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, and the largest employer in the world. The net income of just the top three exceeds $80 billion - roughly 100 times the total budget of the NSF CISE directorate which funds 87% of computing research. In short, the direct return on federal research investments in IT research has been enormously profitable to the nation. The IT industry ecosystem is also evolving. The time from conception to market of successful products has been cut from years to months. Product life cycles are increasingly a year or less. This change has pressured companies to focus industrial R&D on a pipeline or portfolio of technologies that bring immediate, or almost immediate, value to the companies. To defeat the competition and stay ahead of the pack, a company must devote resources to realizing gains that are shorter term, and must remain agile to respond quickly to market changes driven by new technologies, new startups, evolving user experience expectations, and the continuous consumer demand for new and exciting products. Amidst this landscape, the Computing Community Consortium convened a round-table of industry and academic participants to better understand the landscape of industry-academic interaction, and to discuss possible actions that might be taken to enhance those interactions. We close with some recommendations for actions that could expand the lively conversation we experienced at the round-table to a national scale.

研究动机与目标

• 理解当前计算研究领域产业与学术界互动的现状与动态。
• 识别限制产业与学术界有效合作的系统性障碍与结构性挑战。
• 分析IT行业快速创新周期与市场压力对研发优先事项与合作模式的影响。
• 制定可操作的建议，将富有成效的对话扩展为可持续合作的国家级框架。
• 确保联邦计算研究投资通过强化产业-学术联系，持续带来高社会与经济回报。

提出的方法

• 召集产业与学术界领先专家举行圆桌会议，梳理当前合作格局。
• 收集关于两 sector 之间时间周期差异、资金模式及知识产权顾虑等挑战的见解。
• 分析IT驱动创新的经济影响，引用顶级IT企业市值与净收入数据。
• 评估产品生命周期缩短的影响，及其对工业研发聚焦短期价值的启示。
• 将研究发现整合为一套政策与实践建议，以实现合作的规模化扩展。
• 提出一项国家级倡议，以制度化并持续推动圆桌会议所启动的跨部门对话。

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 推动计算研究领域有效产业-学术合作的主要动因与障碍是什么？
• RQ2 IT行业产品开发周期的压缩如何影响学术研究的相关性与时效性？
• RQ3 在机构激励机制不同的背景下，哪些机制可维持长期、高影响力的产业-学术合作？
• RQ4 如何通过强化产业合作，使联邦研究资金实现更高的投资回报？
• RQ5 哪些可扩展的模式能够将圆桌会议所启动的对话制度化并超越单一活动的范围？

主要发现

• 美国前三大IT公司——苹果（Apple）、谷歌（Alphabet）和微软（Microsoft）——的合计净收入超过800亿美元，凸显IT创新带来的巨大经济回报。
• 联邦计算研究投资的回报率极高，特别是通过国家科学基金会（NSF）CISE主任办公室支持的项目，其回报估计达到该办公室年度预算的100倍。
• IT行业的产品开发生命周期已缩短至一年以内，迫使企业优先考虑短期、可市场化的创新。
• 产业研发日益聚焦于能立即产生价值的技术链条，从而削弱了对长期、高风险学术研究的支持能力。
• 计算社区委员会（CCC）识别出迫切需要一项国家级倡议，以制度化并扩展产业-学术合作，超越孤立的圆桌会议。
• 加强合作可显著放大联邦研究资金的影响力，并确保美国在计算创新领域的持续领导地位。