A Hotspot for Talent—Innovation at B-Schools Across Asia

Innovative ideas, products, services, and processes have helped to flourish all aspects of society—from medical breakthroughs to technology-driven conveniences. In fact, governments across the Asia have put innovation at the forefront of national strategies, and are funding efforts to support innovation accordingly. In 2010 the AACSB Task Force on Business Schools and Innovation released its report Business Schools on an Innovation Mission, exploring innovation and its surrounding complexities. Through the report AACSB encouraged business schools to do more to support and foster innovation, and to regularly evaluate their contributions to innovation and society through teaching, scholarship, and outreach.

With entrepreneurial superstars such as Jack Ma or Nandan Nilekani serving as role models, some view the next generation of leaders within Asia as more willing to take risks, and challenge the status-quo. As a result, it should not come as a surprise that Asia is quickly becoming a hotspot for top management thinkers, as well as educators who are excited about the opportunities to contribute to innovation throughout the region.

So, what are business schools in the Asia doing? The following are snapshots of four institutions in distinctly different areas across Asia, and their efforts in supporting and fostering innovation:

China Europe International Business School

Founded in response to the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) institutional strategy of “China Depth, Global Breadth,” the Centre on China Innovation (CCI) aims to be an “inclusive platform for cross-disciplinary research and engagement in the area of innovation.” With a focus on how Chinese companies are developing their own grassroots innovation, the Centre invests in applied research and outreach programs to expand the frontiers of academic thought, influence business practice, and provide innovative solutions to corporate partners.

The Centre’s sponsors, Philips Group, Akzo Nobel N.V., DSM, and Shell are European multinational companies with operations in China. According to George Yip, the Center’s co-director, these sponsors will provide “mid-level, high-potential executives” to work with research teams, as well as thought leaders to help produce some of the research. Prof. Yip believes that the level of co-production they are seeking to accomplish is innovative in itself and rare. While admitting that co-production of research is difficult to manage, Prof. Yip is optimistic that there the Centre will encourage “action research, where companies do something as a part of the research.”

As academics, the Centre’s co-directors plan to develop a business course out of the research, and convene the CEIBS and business communities in forums focused on innovation. However, the main activity of the center is research designed to have an immediate impact on practice, particularly at the sponsor companies.

Singapore Management University

Singapore Management University (SMU), with technology management expert, Arnoud DeMeyer, as president, has set a course “to build and enhance interdisciplinary research and education” at the institution. The University houses several centres and institutes devoted to innovation—including the Lien Centre for Social Innovation, the UOB-SMU Entrepreneurship Alliance Centre, and the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

The Lien Centre for Social Innovation's mission, a partnership between the Lien Foundation and SMU, is to inspire ideas and innovations, foster new alliances, and facilitate solutions to strengthen the non-profit sector. The UOB-SMU Entrepreneurship Alliance Center, a collaboration formed between United Oversees Bank Limited (UOB) and SMU, includes two hundred alliance partners of local business and individuals that focus on education, outreach, and innovative research.

The Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) was set up in September 2009 to “create and grow an entrepreneurial culture amongst students, staff, and faculty through collaborations within and beyond the community.” The institute’s wide-range of activities center around helping innovators commercialize their business ideas. These A-Z services include support for start-ups to scale in overseas markets; a platform for start-ups to raise pre-seed funding through government grants; promotional resources; mentorship programs; intellectual property legal guidance; research and development assistance; and entrepreneurial training related programs.

Indian School of Business

As an institution, the Indian School of Business (ISB) is focused on “advancing innovation in India by identifying strategic approaches to innovation and advancing ideas for unleashing creativity in people and organisations.” Under the aegis of its Centre for Innovation, Leadership and Change, and a vision to build transformational leaders in an innovative nation, ISB partnered with Biocon to develop a dedicated research center focused on innovation management—the Biocon Cell for Innovation Management (BCIM).

The primary focus of BCIM is to “foster innovation to facilitate operational excellence” by focusing on three areas of research themes: affordable innovation, collaborative innovation, and breakthrough innovation. Through these three areas, BCIM helps organizations assess the gaps in their ability to innovate, as well as devise ways to manage and mitigate risks associated with innovation.

BCIM strives to understand the innovation process and streamline these knowledge processes through research. It explores best practices, success stories, and processes that have worked for various organizations, and disseminates this information through conferences, research papers, exchange programs, and corporate case studies. In its first two years BCIM has helped to produce six research papers and four case studies with several other intellectual contributions in process. In addition, the Centre also convened more than 250 delegates of artists, scientists, business executives, school teachers, and university professors to discuss how best to teach innovation.

Kyushu University

Kyushu University Business School (QBS), was established as one of a series of new professional graduate schools within universities in Japan, and as the third such business school to be established in a national university. Specifically, the business school’s mission and activities are focused on two themes: Asian business and technology management.

Associate Professor Megumi Takata, who served as co-director of the university’s Intellectual Property Management Center (IMAQ) Technology Transfer Group, likens the school’s seven-year history to the “start-up stage” of a new venture. For much of this time, the school’s focus has been on incorporating and delivering foundational courses related to innovation, building over time a curriculum that combines courses in general business fields with more specialized courses such as intellectual property management, technology development, risk management, or innovation management.

To coincide with the 2003 establishment of QBS, an Intellectual Property Management Center (IMAQ) was created. The creation of IMAQ enabled various administrative activities, including those supported by Kyushu University Advanced Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research (KASTEC), the Venture Business Laboratory and those of a separate Technology Transfer Promotion Office, to be merged into one unit. In fact, since its creation IMAQ has expanded its functions and diversified in its role as the point of contact at Kyushu University for facilitating university-industry-government (U-I-G) collaborations and intellectual property strategies.

In the past year, QBS has taken actions to strengthen its investment in providing support for innovation, including adding a new course on creating a value-added business based on technology. The biggest shift for QBS revolves around current plans for the development of a new Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The center marks a new phase in the integration of activities that previously had been handled separately by multiple units.

The new Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is expected to enable enhancements to the range of services and experiences offered, and also to facilitate more synergy among various activities. The volume of activity supported by the Technology Transfer Group, for example, has grown to include the evaluation of close to 300 inventions a year, including efforts to help the founders of some to acquire patents, and support to faculty seeking to establish start-up companies and then license new technologies to them. The center supports activities ranging from joint research projects to national projects, technology transfer, business design, start-up venture projects, and promoting international collaboration.

Continue the Innovation Dialogue

The four institutions discussed in this article reflect only a small portion of what schools across Asia, and the world, are doing to make strides in fostering innovation in management education.

To continue this dialogue, we encourage members to provide updates on what your institution is doing to further innovation in business schools at the members-only Innovation and Business Schools Resource Center within the AACSB Exchange. You are welcome to follow the eNewsline Asia thread that has been established to provide comments, or post resources for colleagues that you have found valuable.

Or, for a comprehensive source of information, tools, and discussions regarding the role of business schools in supporting innovation, please visit the Innovation and Business Schools Resource Center on the AACSB website.