Digit shift: leverage or get leveled: how the business and academia can collaborate

Abstract

We are facing extraordinary change in technology and its impacts on business. The fierce competitive environment and ability to rapidly deliver products and service to market have posed tremendous challenges for many companies. These issues coupled with rising expectations in consumer demands and progression of a global economy have accentuated the need for top talents. Finding these top talents with fundamental skills such as critical thinking, an innovative mind set, communication, collaboration, and entrepreneurship have been on the minds of many CIOs in the past few years. My talk today is about how the partnership between business and academia can prepare students for the job market, and how the business can profit from a well-prepared workforce supplied by Universities - a workforce that can provide both technical contributions and thought leadership to the business.