CIB President Keith Hampson and CIB Vice President Mark Hastak welcomed a guest keynote speaker, Dr. James Rowings of Kiewit Corporation, to address the CIB Board during its meeting in late June 2021. This session was advertised to all CIB members and it was heartening to see over 40 members attend.
After a career both in the industry and in academia, Jim is well qualified to speak on the subject of collaboration between academia and industry. He recently led the establishment of Kiewit University over a decade ago, currently overseeing the technical development programs for Kiewit’s employees across five colleges, eight core schools and several technical schools. More information about Jim’s background is available here.
Jim gave a powerful and inspiring presentation, a recording of which is available here and below. He was also our guest in an episode of CIB in Conversation which will be published in August 2021.
Jim highlighted some of the challenges faced by academics and by industry leaders, and identified where the potential benefits to each party outweigh the hurdles. For industry these may include value, access to talent as a 2-way street, strategic initiatives, understanding learning principles, and understanding research processes. For researchers the benefits may include funding or in-kind support, access to experience, meaningful problems, understanding of design and construction processes and their integration, and understanding of the business and economic drivers in the sector. Jim suggested some best practices, and proposed a framework for those wishing to develop a collaboration strategy.
At the end Don Ward, CEO of CIB, noted that Jim’s topic is highly germane to the development of CIB, as this is an area where CIB can provide strategic thought leadership through the strength of its global network and an agenda focused on the value in every sense of such collaboration – financial value, but also policy influence, talent development etc.
Video here:
