Squaring the circle

I was invited this week to Stanford University address upcoming researchers around the country in a two-day workshop, on the topic of working with industry.  I quite enjoyed the experience.  There was terrific give and take over the couple of days.

Upon reflection, it occurs to me that academics and those in business could feel that they are in two unbridgeable worlds.

One the one hand, academic researchers might feel that their work could be sullied by the profit motive companies bring to bear.  On the other hand, businesses might feel that academic research is both inscrutable and impractical.  Yet, in my own experience we have been collaborating on such research for many years, quite productively with some of the most preeminent research institutions.

Here is a thought on how one might bridge that gap.

Academics might see research as a circle:

- Framing of a problem in its own terms.
- Finding the right data set to solve the problems.
- Arriving at unbiased solutions to these problems.


Industry might see research as a square:

- It is framing of a problem for solving a customer need.
- Finding the right focus and priority that generates profits.
- Arriving at practical, implementable solutions to these needs.


Indeed, there might be no way to square this circle.

However, if both groups step away from a two dimensional view of their world, and choose to look at the problem from the other group's point of view, they might see a completely different object.

Together, they might see a cylinder:

- It is framing a problem in a way both did not see.
- It is finding a new data set that generates a more holistic understanding.
- Arriving at innovative solutions to problems that appear intractable.


Here is an example that converts the circle / square into a cylinder: 

Recidivism in a health setting, is the incidence of patients returning to the hospital for the same or similar treatments.

Researchers see hospital recidivism as a health problem and try to find methods to decrease the incidence of recidivism without regard to costs (circle).

Hospital administrators see recidivism as an enormous burden to cost of operations and find methods to decrease incidence of recidivism trying to define when their responsibility for delivery of services for fees, starts and stops (square).

However, if one were to find an intervention (such as in-home nursing care for a set period of time after patient discharge), the health outcomes are improved.  And cost outcomes, while they appear to rise in the short run due to the addition of in-home nursing care, can be shown to decrease in the medium to long run (cylinder).

Building a bridge

I live in industry and see the world through a profit motive.  I do see a bridge, which if we can build, will allow academics and industry to solve bigger problems with better solutions.