A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya
Industrial doctorates are an example of a public policy that establishes shared bases between the spheres of higher education, research and innovation, and companies and institutions, to promote the knowledge society.
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A few months ago, we celebrated the event that closed the 10th anniversary of the Industrial Doctorate Plan. Under the presidency of the Minister of Research and Universities, Joaquim Nadal, doctors, doctoral students, researchers from universities and research and technological centres, managers of companies and institutions and members of the Administration gathered together. In other words, all those who play a fundamental role in the development of industrial doctorate projects in our country.
Industrial doctorates are an example of a public policy that establishes shared bases between the spheres of higher education, research and innovation, and companies and institutions, to promote the knowledge society, as highlighted by the National Pact for the Knowledge Society. An industrial PhD thesis project identifies a line of research that is strategic for a company or institution but also serves as a model of knowledge and technology transfer to society, one that receives and perceives its impact as applied research.
Currently, there are more than 1,000 industrial doctorate projects, of which 364 theses have already been defended. All the Catalan universities and more than half of the CERCA centres have participated, in addition to almost 700 companies and institutions of all types and sizes.
Following these first ten years, the Plan is now entering a new phase in which special emphasis will be placed on recruiting thesis projects in the educational, artistic and humanities fields. In the last call for grants from the Industrial Doctorates Plan modifications were incorporated to include the school environment and the public administrations in general as driving entities for these projects. Now we need potential new projects to step forward and make themselves known.
The universities must also play a decisive role in this new phase, getting closer to areas that have yet to discover the benefits that an industrial doctorate afford
The universities and the research and technological centres have been the backbone of industrial doctorates. Without the collaboration and effort of these institutions in the Catalan research system, we wouldn't be where we are now. For this reason, the universities must also play a decisive role in this new phase, getting closer to areas that have yet to discover the benefits that an industrial doctorate afford.
They need to approach the school environment, in which there is a desperate need to develop research talent and provide visible indications that can better inform our educational system in the face of the enormous challenges ahead. Government departments are another area that could benefit from collaborative research to improve their processes and provide services that meet the needs of citizens.
There are still researchers in universities and research centres who believe that the industrial doctorate is alien to their work. Nothing could be further from the truth. In recent years, the number of projects coming from the fields of social sciences, the arts, and the humanities has increased by between 6 and 13%, but there is a long way to go, and we must continue to focus our efforts in this direction. Many companies and institutions would be willing to collaborate with universities to generate lines of research on issues that may be strategic to them. If the research you are working on could have a social and economic impact, it is almost certainly eligible to be structured in the form of an industrial doctoral thesis project.
As the AQU Catalunya report, The employability of PhD holders from Catalan universities points out, more and more companies and institutions hire doctoral degree holders because they value the talent they contribute to their development. Despite this, there are still challenges that must be overcome and, therefore, objectives that must be met in the coming years: an increase in stays in companies and institutions abroad, as a clear indicator of internationalization, and an increase in the presence of women, especially in managerial roles in companies, institutions and thesis departments.
In the years ahead, it falls to universities, research and technological centres, companies and institutions to respond to a series of challenges around which the foundations of current and, above all, future research are being laid: climate change, renewable energies, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, digital transformation... Encouraging collaborative research through industrial doctorates is a solid investment in the future that both our country and society need.