RIYADH, 27 February 2007 — On Sunday night, before Dr. Jeong Kim, the president of Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs Organization, went in to deliver his opening remarks to the delegates assembled for the Alcatel-Lucent Technology Seminar, he sat down with Arab News to discuss the potential for research and development (R&D) in the Kingdom.
Dr. Kim is the 11th president of Bell Labs, an organization founded in 1925. Over the past 80 years, the Bell Labs R&D community has made seminal scientific discoveries, created powerful new technologies and built the world’s most advanced networks. Dr. Kim is well placed to provide insight to how Saudi Arabia can move from simply talking about the need for more R&D in this country to taking the steps necessary to become a significant member of the global scientific community. Of course, the end goal for such progress would be the transformation of Saudi-based R&D efforts into part of a bright economic future for the Kingdom.
According to Dr. Kim, such a strategy could be successful but only if agility and commitment are in ample supply. He cautions that R&D is highly competitive and in this digital age the speed of innovation is constantly increasing. In these times it is essential to find the fastest, most effective ways to bring innovations to the market. Often, it is the company that can commercialize or commoditize a technology and give it the widest market reach the quickest, that will reap the most reward — not necessarily the company with the best technology.
“The biggest challenge now is leveraging innovations that are created in the research laboratories,” said Dr. Kim. “Bell Laboratories has long been known for boundary changing innovations. What we have sometimes failed to do in the past is leveraging these innovations in a timely manner. So my challenge now is ‘innovating innovations.’ It is innovating the process. Not just innovating the technology ideas but leveraging those ideas into products and solutions that can be useful in terms of financial impact for the company.”
Dr. Kim explained that in some ways the world has become flattened. Whether a scientist is from Saudi Arabia, India, China, France or the United States, that scientist will have access to a huge knowledge base through the Internet. The exchange of information is rapid and nations worldwide are in competition. R&D is a well-recognized economic driver and Saudi Arabia should look to the experiences of others in order to plot the fastest course to producing an invigorating R&D environment.
“Look at South Korea for instance. Examine what has been built in terms of infrastructure. Additionally, the government has created an environment where risk taking is rewarded,” said Dr. Kim. “South Korean society has learned to welcome the introduction of new technologies and applications and people have become adaptable. India and China are making similar moves now. It is important that decision-makers in Saudi Arabia understand the steps taken by a nation such as South Korea, learn from that experience and then adapt that knowledge to the local requirement.”
The Kingdom has begun to recognize the importance of R&D. “Intelligent” Saudi cities are in the planning stage in several locations. Facilities at Saudi universities are being improved, as well. Dr. Kim believes that while these are good moves, it is essential to keep the big picture in mind.
“The research environment especially in engineering is always some form of collaboration,” he explained. “You can never be brilliant by yourself. You learn many great things from studying printed materials and collaborating over a distance but there are some things that you can only learn by having a face to face interaction. So having some researchers who are either from abroad or foreign educated, interfacing with Saudi scientists would yield some beneficial results.”
He also advised that simply offering high salaries to world class researchers won’t be the key to convincing them to come and do their work in the Kingdom.
“The environment is very important. World class researchers are always looking for other world class researchers to collaborate with. So you have to figure out a way to bring in a few world class researchers who will then attract other researchers into this mix. World class researchers also need great facilities to do research. This must be coupled with great academic faculties to collaborate with and students to inspire. Yes money is needed, but that money is best spent on creating the excellent environment,” Dr. Kim said.
So attracting researchers from abroad to come share their minds with the Kingdom’s scientists is one step toward generating homegrown R&D. Another step, which might be overlooked, is the need to bring young Saudis into the R&D equation early and as much as possible. Dr. Kim remarked that decision-makers must become aware that the breakthrough innovations that Saudi Arabia is looking for are related to intelligence and the role early exposure plays in stimulating that intelligence, rather than experience.
“Sometimes the more experienced you are the more you are limited by your experience. It can limit your perspective,” Dr. Kim emphasized. “So if you are looking for breakthroughs, most of the greatest innovations happen when the scientists are in their 20s and 30s.”
The government has an enormous role to play in creating the best environment for R&D to flourish. However, Dr. Kim believes that the private sector must cooperate by providing the real life examples and challenges to be surmounted by R&D.
“The greatest innovations come from solving a practical problem,” he pointed out. “I will give you an example. I am here as president of Bell Labs and one of the most famous examples of innovation from Bell Labs is the transistor. It is an old example, but it is one that everyone knows, so I will use this as my example rather than a more recent one, of which there are many. Transistors were invented as a result of Bell Labs scientists trying to build a nationwide phone network. They could not build a nationwide telephone network using vacuum tubes because it would consume too much electricity and it would be too physically large. Something had to be invented to replace the vacuum tube. So the transistor was created. What the transistor did was exactly the same function as the vacuum tube, except that it was smaller and consumed less power. But what it did do was lead to the invention of the integrated circuit, the microprocessor, computers and basically changed the world. But we have to remember that the original reason that the transistor was invented was to solve a practical problem. The business world brings practical challenges to the research environment and I can give you many, many examples like the transistor. Therefore, private sector research and academic research need to be collaborative.”
So how exactly should the Kingdom go about getting its R&D up and running?
“I recommend thinking in two phases,” said Dr. Kim. “If you believe you have a long way to catch up, then I would try to do what I call the fast-forward model. Look at the innovations that are happening and then see if you can leverage those innovations as fast as you can. Focus on a few core disciplines. You must execute plans quickly in order to do this. The fast-forward model would allow Saudi Arabia to benefit from combining innovations from around the world. Look at researchers in academia in Saudi Arabia and around the world, bring the appropriate ones together and quickly execute on their innovations.”
He added, “At the same time, grow the researchers needed to do your own research and innovation. This takes longer and obviously Saudi Arabia will have to work on both strategies together. Plus, Saudi Arabia must set up an organization whose purpose is to be a gateway to leverage those innovations and bring them to the notice of the rest of the world. This entire strategy requires a committed long-term targeted vision. It is not short term process.”
And it is a process that must constantly be examined and tweaked due to the rapid pace of change. Dr. Kim discussed the nation of Ireland which has built a powerhouse economy by creating an environment where companies want to come and manufacture goods and then export them to the rest of Europe. Ireland’s low-cost labor, good education and other advantages were attractive to those manufacturers. But now the world is changing and low-cost manufacturing jobs are being moved to places such as Poland, China and India. Ireland has realized that they must grow their economy in new ways and thus Bell Labs has been invited to suggest ways to move from manufacturing into higher value operations.
There is one more essential ingredient to helping Saudi Arabia and its people succeed in R&D and it is something Dr. Kim has discovered from personal experience.
“Success is usually found in the pursuit of your dream. You have to know that even if you fail you can learn from that and try to be more successful next time. In the United States, the environment for success exists,” he observed. “I have failed once. Most people know about the company from which I achieved my success but they don’t know about my first attempt which was a failure. I must say that there were many lessons for me in that first failure, which was then the basis for my financial success.”
Dr. Kim continued, “The ability and will to take risks is important in achieving success. A society that will be conducive to achieving economic success will be one in which not only is risk taking accepted, but it is encouraged. Without encouragement of risk taking, Saudi Arabia will only make incremental progress. But from what I understand, Saudi Arabia wants to catch up to other dynamic economies in the area of research and development. Saudi Arabia wants to succeed and that means this nation has to take some risks.”
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