Future of Universities: A Service Science Perspective (Stanford Nov 13th)

“The Future of Universities: A Service Science Perspective”
Tuesday, November 13th, 9:50-10:15

This talk will explore two themes for the future: (1) The best way to predict the future is to challenge and inspire the next generation of students to build it better; (2) The future is already here at universities, it is just not evenly distributed throughout the rest of society. Universities are being transformed, and service science, which is the emerging study of complex service systems and value-cocreation in business and society, offers a useful perspective on the transformation underway. Presidents, deans, faculty, students, and other stakeholders, including business, government, and social sector, are reorienting their value-propositions around four missions. The four missions are (1) knowledge transfer (teaching), (2) knowledge creation (research), (3) knowledge application (entrepreneurship), and (4) knowledge integration (restructuring to overcome silos). By 2030, in a world of accelerating change, universities will be the dominant loci of economic development locally and talent exchange globally.

Speaker Bio:
Jim Spohrer is Director of IBM University Programs, leading a global team of IBMers working with about five thousands universities worldwide aligning around the interconnected 6 R’s – Research, Readiness (Skills), Recruiting, Revenue, Responsibility (Volunteerism), and Regions (Entrepreneurship). Previously, Jim was founding CTO of IBM’s Venture Capital Relations Group in IBM Corporate Strategy and founding Director of IBM’s Service Research area in IBM Research. Jim is one of the founders of an emerging area of study known as service science, which studies the evolution of complex service systems in business and society, and their value-cocreation logic (http://www.service-science.info/archives/2233). During the 1990’s, Jim was a Distinguished Engineer, Scientist, and Technologist (DEST) at Apple. Jim has over 90 publications and 9 patents. He has a BS in Physics from MIT, and a PhD in Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence from Yale.