# Presentation: 538763

## OSTP Regional Forum:Research Business Models

- Mary Ellen Sheridan
- Associate Vice President – Research
- University of Chicago
- Chair, Board of Directors,
- Council on Governmental Relations

## Overview

- University Research Model
- Measuring Success
- Value in Adjusting the Government Funding Model
- Tweaking “management” in the Research Business Model

## Academe’s Business Model: A Marketplace of Ideas

- Value of Ideas: difficult to quantify
- Lies in their Intellectual Merit
- Peer Review – “Value” Estimator
- Can’t Forecast the Economic  Payoff of Research
- Not a Dictated Research Agenda

## Faculty Business Model: Research Success

- Value Risk Taking
- Push Science Ahead
- Productivity – students, publications, promotion & tenure, peer recognition

## University Research Business Model: Research Success

- Cautious Risk-taker
- Finance and Manage Research & Education Enterprise
- Concern with Compliance
- Deliberate Checks & Balances

## Government Research Business Model

- Government/Private Sector Should Have Different R&D Expectations/Goals
-  Fund Universities for Big Issues of National Importance
- Invest public funds in knowledge creation
- Attract Best Business Partners

## Making the Marketplace more efficient

- Concentrate on Value
- Strengthen Collaboration in Research
- Encourage Collective Problem Formulation and Solutions
- Create Incentives that consider all stakeholders: faculty, institutions, public and sponsors

## Big Science – National Priorities

- Grand Challenges – Human Genome, Space
- Multitude of Funding Mechanisms in Hand
- Regional Initiatives – NIAID RCEs
- Sustaining Investigator-Initiated Programs

## Facilitating Future Collaborations

- Assure Balance within the Portfolio
- Discourage Rigidity, Reward Flexibility
- Access world class,large-scale research facilities

## Perceived Government Barriers/Inconsistencies

- Break down Agency Silos - Incentivize Agency Cooperation
- Different Agencies Have Different Cultures, Business Practices
- Press for Consistency in core administrative Requirements (Common Rule for A-110)
- Ignoring Major Equipment/Facility Needs

## Institutional Barriers

- Recognize contributions to interdisciplinary research
- Compliance Nesting Syndrome
- Budget Models That Discourage Cross-campus Collaborations
- Pursue More Aggressive Inter-institutional research initiatives

## IT –the Good

- Imperative for Research Leadership
- Take advantage of high speed data transfer
- Facilitate Remote Research Collaborations
- Facilitate Submission, Review and Award of Research Funds

## IT – the Bad

- Proliferation of Agency Proposal & Award Management Procedures
- Lack of Understanding or Willingness to Develop Systems That Will Work in University Environment
- Government Expects Institutions to Modify Their Systems, Practice

## National Labs: Promise of Collaborative Facilities & Scientists

- Outstanding National Facilities (e.g. APS)
- National Security Partnerships very attractive
- “Mission” Focus misses Opportunities
- Procurement Attitude:W Collaborations sees as “Work for Others”
- Lab Contracts Place Burdensome Expectations on University

## Financing the Research Business Model

- Goals of a Business Model– aligning roles and responsibilities of all parties
- Fair and Reasonable Accounting Rules
- Cost shifting
- Unfunded Regulatory Mandates
- F&A Negotiations based on Cost Principles not “Budget Neutrality”

## Streamlining Administration in Research Business Model

- A-110 not uniformly implemented – applaud codifying “research core”
- Growing Mulitplicity of Agency “Guidance”
- Costs of Inconsistencies Hurt All Stakeholders

## Institutional Management Challenges

- Management across campus, systems, institutions
- More cumbersome and intrusive regulatory environment, less research productivity
- Compliance Concerns Overwhelming

## Organizational Changes are Taking Place

- Complexity of Science is driving change in how researchers work
- Collaborative Teams crossing disciplines, campuses, regions, addressing global questions
- Training of students and postdoctorals is changing

## Evolving Funding Mechanisms

- Some Agencies Responsive –portfolio management, array of funding options
- NIAID’s RCE, RBL – reaction to national need, flawed business model
- Important to Preserve Investigator-initiated, “curiosity-driven” research
- Value ”risk-taking” in Research Business Model Development
- Recognize the costs of infrastructure

## Some Questions for Consideration:

- Is Government Dooming the Fundamental Research Model through Micromanagement?
- Is the Current Model a Fair and Reasonable Business Relationship?