Pledger, Riga Technical University (RTU) is one of the leading technical and science universities in the Baltic States with more than 160 years’ of history, and is currently in the process of transforming into a university dedicated to specific deep tech fields, such as material science, biotechnologies, and IT to create an impact that will also transform Latvia’s economy.
We spoke to Liene Briede, Vice-Rector of Innovations at RTU, about this and the role universities, research institutes and innovation hubs have in fostering deep tech talent.
“We are now pre-researching all possibilities and will then expand, together with our partners in the European ecosystem.”
Liene explained that while the deep tech fields are important for Latvia’s economy, as a science university, RTU is seen to be pioneers that don’t just support current markets, but build new markets and new possibilities, which means there are many things the university is responsible for.
She further explained that beginning any new activity needs specialists who will do the work and, more importantly, have the required knowledge. There also needs to be innovation capacity which means having a thriving start-up ecosystem related to the topic.
Improving deep tech awareness
Liene also stressed that helping society understand what science does and how it impacts their lives is a huge task. In general, the scientific community aren’t great at communicating what they do, so it’s important to ensure communication comes from universities, as well as the media and organisations.
It is a challenge, but RTU are expanding their efforts to reach a wide audience, from kindergarten children to scientists, including high school students, and encouraging scientists to explain their topics in a way that even young children can understand, which is quite difficult.
Additionally, for the past 10 years, cooperation between universities and industry has been a topic of high-level discussions, yet Europe still struggles in this area. However, Liene hopes this will change, with industries becoming more interested in boosting their competitiveness through scientific results, although traditional industries are slow to change.
Liene believes Europe’s deep tech initiatives could create new markets and new companies that build their values on science, which would lead to a completely different level of collaboration between universities and industry.
“Currently, there aren’t many companies in the market with massive potential, such as those valued in the billions, but I believe such companies will eventually emerge. And when that happens, cooperation between academia and industry will also reach a much higher level.”
The role universities and research institutes play in nurturing deep tech talent
For talent and talent development there needs to be a clear goal.
- Does the talent want to be a leading scientist, start-up entrepreneur, or head of research and development at a global corporation?
- Where in an organisation can a deep tech talent make the greatest impact?
Without a clear goal, it is difficult to understand what deep tech talent means or what career path it offers.
Liene highlighted how RTU set a goal, (not an exact target, but a general idea), of how many industrial PhD students they want each year. This helps the industry better understand the role of science in their business, with PhD students acting as a bridge between the university and industry.
They also consider how many new PhD students are needed to maintain strong scientific capacity and how many of them should be encouraged to become researchers.
“It is important to have a balance or at least a plan to know which students will go into industry and which will stay in academia because both are needed.”
Encouraging research as a career path
“In business, there are many risks, you might be a millionaire one day and unemployed the next.”
Liene explained that if money is what drives a young person, they need to be aware that, while ultimately, it’s about ‘the journey’, business is not the only route to making money, universities also offer good salaries and career paths.
However, Liene believes the future lies somewhere in between, where scientists can run a business and still do science. Currently, becoming a scientist means wanting to do science, which is very different to running a business. A business has a clear point where the science stops when the product is ready to go to market, but for scientists there’s always more to explore and deeper to dig.
Liene thinks the best approach is a combination; being a university scientist who does great research, teaches students, but also has a business. This is similar to the US model, where every scientist is involved with several start-ups, mainly as an advisor, but also making money.
However, this model is not yet very popular in Europe, mainly because Europe still has strong regulations around intellectual property which affects what scientists own and control. Liene stressed this was not the case throughout Europe, Sweden has given all rights to scientists, while the UK also has a different approach. She believes the real question is how to design and build policies that will achieve the desired outcomes.
Innovation requires opportunities to experiment, make mistakes, and learn from them.
“If the goal is for scientists to help businesses, then some regulations need relaxing, and more flexibility and trust are needed, allowing people to do their best even if success doesn’t come immediately.”
The importance of interdisciplinary education and research in fostering deep tech talent
Liene stressed that having a multidisciplinary approach is essential for innovation.
First, she explained that it’s impossible for innovation to happen in a room full of people who all do the same thing. It requires a mix of knowledge, understanding what you know and what you don’t, and bringing in different experiences and keeping an open mind for new ideas.
Additionally, Liene highlighted that Europe has a long list of critical technology fields with a shortage of skilled workers, potentially 100,000 to 200,000 in various fields. This shortage raises a serious question on what to do. If companies and market begin competing for the same talent, those who pay more will win, which could lead to a similar situation to the IT boom, where young people are drawn away from universities because they can immediately secure high-paying jobs.
However, with the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, just as with the IT boom, as technology evolves, there is a danger that those who choose high-paying jobs over education will struggle as the market changes as their skills won’t be as strong.
Liene believes there needs to be an agreement between stakeholders that ensures a balance between those who continue to build deep knowledge, while other meet the market need, because without this balance, the current market situation will not change.
“I believe we need to work as an ecosystem on this question, otherwise we will not see the real progress of Europe competitiveness regarding other markets.”
The role start-ups and innovation hubs play in attracting deep tech talent
Liene explained that 10 years ago, while deep tech start-ups existed, they were supported the same as all other start-ups, now they are just named differently. This helps recognise the significant differences between regular and deep tech start-ups, such as how they operate, how long they take to scale, etc., allowing for better support and targeted strategies to help deep tech start-ups grow.
In the past, many scientists would say: “I’m a scientist, not a business person, business isn’t for me.” But by clearly defining deep tech start-ups, that barrier between science and business has started to shrink, and over time, as more start-ups proudly identify as deep tech, this could lead to a significant shift in the market and influence how young people choose their career paths.
What led Riga Technical University to join the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative?
Liene explained that as a university, RTU was the first one to open an EIT-specific Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) hub in 2016, and are therefore familiar with EIT working programmes and all the KICs.
Because of this, joining the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative was a logical step, not least because training talent is one of the focus areas. This served as a signal for RTU and their external partners that talent, specifically deep tech talent is a priority for them.
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