Bridging the great divide

Businessmen and scientists/researchers are strange bedfellows.

A "great divide" separates them, which explains why many of the technologies generated by the science sector are not adopted by businessmen.

"There is really no real dialogue between the agribusiness group and the scientific community," observed Dean Ma. Corazon T. Lopez of the Assumption College-School of Business.

Communication-wise, they are "poles apart".

Scientists, according to Lopez, "speak in strange tongues. Sila-sila lang ang nagkakaintindihan."

The gap that divides these important sectors of society must be bridged, the school official stressed at the Second Agriculture and Fisheries Technology Forum organized recently by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR). The forum was attended by scientists/researchers of government agencies (mostly under DA), academic institutions, and the private sector, including industry.

About 25 entities exhibited their mature technologies and products during the affair at the DA-BAR in Diliman, Quezon City, on the occasion of the bureau’s 18th anniversary. BAR, currently headed by Director Nicomedes P. Eleazar, was established in 1987 "to ensure that all agricultural research is coordinated and undertaken for maximum utility to agriculture."

There are a number of reasons why scientists/researchers and businessmen have not struck a viable partnership, pointed out Lopez in her paper titled "Knowledge Management Strategies on the Promotion and Adoption of the Agriculture and Fisheries Research and Development: View from the Private Sector and Business Community.

One big factor is the communication gap between the two.

This is borne by a "quick-and-dirty survey" conducted by Lopez’s husband (Prof. Mario Antonio Lopez of the Makati City-based Asian Institute of Management or AIM) upon her request before she developed her paper for the DA-BAR technology forum.

The question responded to by the businessmen-participants in the meeting of the Agribusiness for Countryside Development Committee of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) last July 26 was:

"How do businessmen perceive the efforts of the Agriculture and Fisheries R&D in the promotion and adoption of their research outputs?"

"Much of what they shared," Lopez reported, "can be summarized as follows: awareness = low; usage = low; and business friendliness of known work = low".

According to the respondents, in several fora they have attended where scientists were invited to speak, they found that most papers presented were not formatted, structured, and worded for easy understanding and adoption for practical application.

The science sector liberally uses the so-called "method talk" – the working vocabulary and syntax of research procedures in the academe and in the research facilities.

Hence, the highly technical and voluminous papers are "peppered with polysyllabic words", the sentences are "long-awaited", and the scientists/researchers painstakingly document the process of proving their theories supported by many tables.

"Method talk," she observed, "sounds and looks strangely complicated to a businessman or a corporate manager whose span of attention covers a one-page report.

Lopez further averred: "The businessman do not have the luxury of time to cogitate and perorate. They are not conditioned to read or listen to long reports."

She also reminded the R&D sector that businessmen and venture capitalists, as well as financing institutions, are interested in technologies that would address two things: increase in productivity and decrease in cost of operations.

She advised: "What you sought to focus on are in the areas of feasibility and viability of your findings and how these could affect the bottom line, the sustainability of their operations, and the social impact on their stakeholders."

Summing up, Lopez gave four recommendation on how the research community can be made to become viable partner of the business sector. These are:

•Build, source, tap, and use social networks that will link the research community to potential business and industry users of such R&D outputs.

•Recast or repackage the research papers into bitable marker-driven technology transfer materials that are user-friendly and easy to read.

•Include the more organized businesses in agriculture and fisheries, as well as the potential venture capitalists, in your promotion campaigns.

•Keep your ears close to the ground so you get to know what other institutions are doing and join up in the efforts of developing techno-entrepreneurs."