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In most faculties this is already happening, mainly because solving a problem that big corp is interested in will make it more likely to secure funding (by big
by sally_glance 4y ago
In most faculties this is already happening, mainly because solving a problem that big corp is interested in will make it more likely to secure funding (by big corp), and in general you probably want to discuss (or even evaluate) the practical applications of your (maybe theoretical) research.
They will still be part of the rat race though. Actually it's been interesting to observe the opposite, I know some PhD students who quit because big corp offered them a nice position in their innovation branch with much more freedom (and financial security) to work on their favourite problem... A bit of luck involved to have your field of research align with big corps' goals though.
- dehrmann 4y ago> big corp offered them a nice position in their innovation branch with much more freedom (and financial security) to work on their favourite problem I'm going to pick on Timnit Gebru, or at least what became more obvious with that debacle. Both the directional freedom and financial security are there, but part of your job is PR, and you don't have the same freedom a professor with tenure gets. If you have a paper that is critical of your employer or they don't like it for any reason, they can kill it. That's the deal.
- sally_glance 4y agoThanks for the reference, I did not follow that particular debacle. But I'm not convinced this couldn't happen at a faculty. "part of your job is PR" (i.e. fishing for grants) and "they can kill it" (i.e. funding dried up and focus changes) apply there as well...