Fisher Information Technology Center
Opportunities for External Partner Organizations
What the Fisher IT Center can offer External Organizations
How External Organizations can Get Involved with the Fisher IT Center
How to Investigate Research with the Fisher IT Center
What the Fisher IT Center can offer External Organizations and Clubs
- Organization Agenda Building - The Fisher IT Center can solicit interests of the external organization and its participants, to be matched up with interests of others -- CIOs, faculty members and students -- now being obtained through individual interviews. The external organization can use this matching information to help guide activities and other work. Where the external organization is a CIO organization or club, linking with the Fisher IT Center will strengthen the partner’s related programs and aid recruiting.
- Speakers – The Fisher IT Center can help with finding faculty members and students to serve in conferences or on panels presented by the external organization.
- Conference Support – Jointly sponsor conferences or other meetings (where that makes sense).
- Influence – Offer the opportunity to influence Fisher IT Center directions and emphases.
- U. C. Berkeley Campus Access - Arrange tours of U. C. Berkeley sites for the external organization members. Provide introductions and access to faculty, students and campus executives.
- Corporate Projects - Provide the opportunity to engage with CIOs, faculty and students through externships and project work, and a future opportunity to participate in development of research programs, by external organization participants working on corporate-sponsored projects. U.C. Berkeley is considering creating an IS Clinic which will be a project room to house students who will work at UC Berkeley on projects for (and funded by) CIOs and other corporate executives. The Fisher IT Center can be a source for such projects, which may also be sponsored by the external organization, rather than or in addition to individual corporations.
- Student Training - Provide the opportunity for the external organization or its participants to participate, under faculty direction and invitation, in special ‘crash courses’ (not for credit), to be developed and presented by U. C. Berkeley, provided sufficient interest expressed and funding offered by the CIOs or their groups. One of the Fisher IT Center faculty directors, Assistant Professor Terry Hendershott, has agreed to teach an IT class starting in 2007 (spring semester) if high interest levels are shown by students and CIOs.
- Speaking Opportunities - Provide the opportunity for the principals of external organizations and the participants to engage with CIOs, students and faculty by speaking or serving on a panel with a CIO in a professor’s Class at U. C. Berkeley, provided sufficient interest is expressed at U. C. Berkeley by the faculty and provided the principal / participant has appropriate skills and knowledge. External organization principals and participants might also speak with informal groups convened by the Fisher IT Center.
How External Organizations can Get Involved with the Fisher IT Center
- Interests - Tell the Fisher IT Center your interests / important areas. A list is being prepared of such interests, based on individual interviews.
- Participation - Get engaged in activities listed above.
- Membership - Enroll as a member of the Fisher IT Center, involving financial support and a two-year commitment.
- Thinking - Give the Fisher IT Center ideas and recommendations for services and projects.
- Guidance - Present, through their organization or CIO group, recommendations to the university or to the Fisher IT Center.
- Recommendations - Suggest names of additional CIOs (or other executives) for contact by the Fisher IT Center.
How to Investigate Research with the Fisher IT Center
The Fisher Information Technology Center (http://fisheritcenter.haas.berkeley.edu) web site talks about the opportunity for IT executives to make contact with U. C. Berkeley faculty members and to sponsor or participate in research activities and projects. A good question is: how exactly does a Fisher IT Center member IT executive go about doing that? Here is the business model.
- Recognize the need -- The Fisher IT Center member IT executive becomes aware of an issue or problem within their own organization that seems to need the attention, analysis and possible solutions that can be provided by the scholars and researchers at U. C. Berkeley. Such issues or problems need not be purely in the information technology field, but may also range into areas such as supply chain, marketing, communications, human resources and organizational behavior, legal issues, economics, corporate strategy, project management, operations, finance, or myriad other subjects addressed by the faculty members and researchers at U. C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business (http://haas.berkeley.edu/), School of Information (http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/), and School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Research/).
- State the problem -- Acting as intermediary, the Fisher IT Center can assist the Fisher IT Center member IT executive with preparing a full and careful statement of the problem or research idea.
- Find Help -- The Fisher IT Center can then identify faculty members and researchers who seem best fitted and most likely to be interested in the problem.
- Initial Meeting -- The Fisher IT Center will arrange a no-cost meeting for the faculty member or researcher to make a brief visit to the Fisher IT Center member IT executive’s site to discuss the problem or idea.
- Research Project -- If that initial meeting proves that the organization and the faculty member or researcher has mutual interest, the parties can agree to a contract specifying further research or to take an agreed upon next step. This further study might call for the organization to make itself open to confidential discussions or to share proprietary data with the researcher, who can sign confidentiality agreements as needed. The research can be done by the researcher alone or with staff members of the Fisher IT Center member IT executive’s organization.
- Results -- Typically, the faculty member or researcher will produce a paper describing the problem, approaches, findings, and recommended next steps or solutions to the problem. Provided the organization agrees, the faculty member or researcher might also like to use such information in papers for academic publication in the future.
- Follow Up -- Sometimes, such research will bring to light other needs or opportunities that could not have been foreseen when the initial research efforts were launched. Some research efforts lend themselves to joint sponsorship by two or more organizations, in which case the Fisher IT Center can again play a role in bringing the parties together.
If you would like to discuss this opportunity further, please contact Jack Grantham, Executive Director, Fisher IT Center, U. C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1930, grantham@haas.berkeley.edu or 510-642-6145.
