Business, Academia, Government: Toward Symbiotic Collaboration in a Networked Society

Abstract

In the past, the worlds of business, academia and government rarely mixed, but recently economic and other factors have been driving these strange bedfellows together in new and interesting ways. A number of new models for how these sectors can interact have been developing, but the end result is far from settled. In this chapter, we examine some of these developing models and propose a new model of interaction that is founded on the interests of each societal sector so that cross-sector interactions are optimized to create symbiotic relationships among all sectors. The new model factors in the economic and other interests of each sector and takes advantage of the enhanced speed of communication and other benefits provided by a networked society. We believe that this new network model is more open and will produce more fundamental breakthroughs than today's common models. The chapter concludes with a brief review of the results of our experiences operating under the network model and some thoughts for the future.