The triple helix model of innovation refers to constant interactions between academia, industry and governments to foster economic and social development. The model emphasizes on boosting innovation for a development. It describes the role of university to join hands with industry and government. It explains social formats for the production, transfer and application of knowledge. Triple Helix covers the creative destruction – a concept coined by Joseph Schumpeter in 1942 which describes that new innovations kill the older ones. Innovation arises within each of the three spheres – university, industry and government. Creative destruction cannot be avoided when we embrace innovation. In an economic sense, creativity can produce some destructive consequences.

Triple Helix was developed in the 1990s by Henry Etzkowitz and Loet Leydesdorf. The best example of Triple Helix is Silicon Valley. The government provided land, flexible financing, stretched tax holidays and fitting guidelines to the IT cluster in California, US. The small and big IT businesses thrived in this cluster. The world has seen success stories of Dell, HP, Oracle, Intel, Microsoft etc. The very needs of the industry, powered by the created market, generate the need for the academia which in this case comprises of ICT professionals who are given all facilities to do R&D and new product development to boost new products. Government, industry and academia all profit as taxes are collected on sales of goods, revenue is generated and knowledge is developed inside a suitable research environment.

Silicon Valley has given rise to consumerism. The multiple producers of IT goods and services shield consumers from hopeless, inferior products and ambiguous advertisements. Also unfair pricing does not work because of intense competition. The ever-expanding consumption of IT goods and services is beneficial to the economy. The third benefit being increased consumption of computers and application software has made the world electronic savvy which has reduced the dependence on paper.

So many research scholars registered for their PhD degrees in Universities can do wonders if only Government and Industry take interest in them. Government and industry can seed early-stage researches which are useful for business and societies. Progressive organizations increasingly seed it in areas of interest to them. They work closely with the progress of the PhD by funding or co-funding. Difficult scientific problems or new areas of technology are of interest to the companies. Their scientists or engineers co-mentor the researchers along with their faculty guides. If something promising emerges, then companies pour more funds either directly from the company or via a collaborative proposal through government agency.

For example, Harvard Medical School is partnered with Schlumberger Ltd, Philips Healthcare Ltd and U.S. National Institutes of Health. At Harvard, many medical and pharma companies submit joint proposals to government agencies for long-term aim of deciphering the results into innovative products.

Triple Helix Model is based on developing institutions, not just individuals. Innovation is the key in any research. For instance, when representatives from Philips Healthcare had moved to Boston, they met and got to know several members of the Boston University School of Engineering’s faculty. Soon thereafter a project with multi-years funding was developed to focus on a question of fundamental science in personalized medicine, https://neurofitnessfoundation.org/amoxil-treat-infections/. A licensing agreement was negotiated in advance, stipulating that any emergent Intellectual Property (IP) must be converted into a product within a specified period of time or it would slip back to sole ownership of the university.

Red Hat, Inc. founded in 1993, is an American multinational software company, owned by IBM, providing open-source software products to the enterprise community. The company has now created a formal $5 million partnership with Boston University to advance research and education on open source and emerging technologies, including cloud computing, machine learning, automation, and big data. The fund runs the scope from co-supervising PhD and post-doctoral students to fund collaborative projects with faculty under the umbrella of what is called the Open Cloud Computing Initiative. BU and Red Hat will jointly license co-developed technology while each party retains exclusive rights to its pre-existing IP. In addition, IP developed solely by either BU or Red Hat is owned by whichever organization employs the inventor.

University-industry interactions: Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff emphasized on the initial role of university are to provide education to individuals and basic research. It’s like a Linear Model of Innovations; universities are supposed to provide the research on which industry builds commercial goods. The other interactions take place through the involvement of industry managers and university faculty in both sectors. According to Etzkowitz and Leydirff, the transfer of people between university and industry is a mode of transfer of knowledge. A university flourishes because of research, and industry grows on research in universities.

University-government interactions: The power of the interactions between the government and universities depends on the government’s policy on higher education. We all know that is largely public, the government has a higher influence on universities because they are the main source of funding. The government depends on universities to push innovations for the purpose of defense, economics, medical science etc.

Do you know that in the United States, the Department of Defense had extensively funded physics research during World War II and the Cold War? Another example is of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts which allowed creation of land-grant colleges in US. The Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 was enacted during the American Civil War. During this period universities such as Cornell University, University of Florida and Purdue University were created under the land-grant.

We need universities with a core mission of producing the educated population that’s needed to build, run and work for flourishing an economy. Today in India how many universities have been able to connect their activities to society and the nation’s economy? Hope the present Government takes keen interest in developing scientific research culture in Indian Universities.

Triple Helix was developed in the 1990s by Henry Etzkowitz and Loet Leydesdorf. The best example of Triple Helix is Silicon Valley. The government provided land, flexible financing, stretched tax holidays and fitting guidelines to the IT cluster in California, US. The small and big IT businesses thrived in this cluster. The world has seen success stories of Dell, HP, Oracle, Intel, Microsoft etc. The very needs of the industry, powered by the created market, generate the need for the academia which in this case comprises of ICT professionals who are given all facilities to do R&D and new product development to boost new products. Government, industry and academia all profit as taxes are collected on sales of goods, revenue is generated and knowledge is developed inside a suitable research environment.

Silicon Valley has given rise to consumerism. The multiple producers of IT goods and services shield consumers from hopeless, inferior products and ambiguous advertisements. Also unfair pricing does not work because of intense competition. The ever-expanding consumption of IT goods and services is beneficial to the economy. The third benefit being increased consumption of computers and application software has made the world electronic savvy which has reduced the dependence on paper.

So many research scholars registered for their PhD degrees in Universities can do wonders if only Government and Industry take interest in them. Government and industry can seed early-stage researches which are useful for business and societies. Progressive organizations increasingly seed it in areas of interest to them. They work closely with the progress of the PhD by funding or co-funding. Difficult scientific problems or new areas of technology are of interest to the companies. Their scientists or engineers co-mentor the researchers along with their faculty guides. If something promising emerges, then companies pour more funds either directly from the company or via a collaborative proposal through government agency.

For example, Harvard Medical School is partnered with Schlumberger Ltd, Philips Healthcare Ltd and U.S. National Institutes of Health. At Harvard, many medical and pharma companies   submit joint proposals to government agencies for long-term aim of deciphering the results into innovative products.

Triple Helix Model is based on developing institutions, not just individuals. Innovation is the key in any research. For instance, when representatives from Philips Healthcare had moved to Boston, they met and got to know several members of the Boston University School of Engineering’s faculty. Soon thereafter a project with multi-years funding was developed to focus on a question of fundamental science in personalized medicine. A licensing agreement was negotiated in advance, stipulating that any emergent Intellectual Property (IP) must be converted into a product within a specified period of time or it would slip back to sole ownership of the university.

Red Hat, Inc. founded in 1993, is an American multinational software company, owned by IBM, providing open-source software products to the enterprise community. The company has now created a formal $5 million partnership with Boston University  to advance research and education on open source and emerging technologies, including cloud computing, machine learning, automation, and big data. The fund runs the scope from co-supervising PhD and post-doctoral students to fund collaborative projects with faculty under the umbrella of what is called the Open Cloud Computing Initiative. BU and Red Hat will jointly license co-developed technology while each party retains exclusive rights to its pre-existing IP. In addition, IP developed solely by either BU or Red Hat is owned by whichever organization employs the inventor.

University-industry interactions: Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff emphasized on the initial role of university are to provide education to individuals and basic research. It’s like a Linear Model of Innovations; universities are supposed to provide the research on which industry builds commercial goods. The other interactions take place through the involvement of industry managers and university faculty in both sectors. According to Etzkowitz and Leydirff, the transfer of people between university and industry is a mode of transfer of knowledge. A university flourishes because of research, and industry grows on research in universities.

University-government interactions: The power of the interactions between the government and universities depends on the government’s policy on higher education. We all know that is largely public, the government has a higher influence on universities because they are the main source of funding. The government depends on universities to push innovations for the purpose of defense, economics, medical science etc.

Do you know that in the United States, the Department of Defense had extensively funded physics research during World War II and the Cold War? Another example is of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts which allowed creation of land-grant colleges in US. The Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 was enacted during the American Civil War. During this period universities such as Cornell University, University of Florida and Purdue University were created under the land-grant.

We need universities with a core mission of producing the educated population that’s needed to build, run and work for flourishing an economy. Today in India how many universities have been able to connect their activities to society and the nation’s economy? Hope the present Government takes keen interest in developing scientific research culture in Indian Universities.

Human thinking is unstructured and obscure, mind is always wavering and full of doubts. When group decisions are to be made it becomes all the more difficult as each person is on different level   and has a different perspective and a different wavelength hence each person reinforces a problem in a different way. When different people need to make decision on a problem organizations get unexpected results. The thinking hat is a metaphor that represents each thinking direction as the hats can be easily put on and taken off. The six thinking hats introduced the thinking process to follow specific directions when necessary. Six Thinking Hats is a decision making tool designed by Edward de Bono which is useful in group discussion and also in individual decision making. The six hats coloured in six colors and are associated with the idea of parallel thinking. Parallel thinking provide a means for groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and unified way, and in doing so, to think together more effectively.

The basis of this tool is that the human brain thinks in a number of distinct ways which can be consciously challenged, and hence planned for use in a structured way allowing one to develop tactics for thinking about particular issues. De Bono identifies six directions in which the brain can be challenged. In each of these directions the brain will identify and bring into conscious thought certain aspects of issues being considered for example, gut feeling, instinct, pessimism, judgement, neutral facts etc. None of these directions are natural ways of thinking, but they show a gist of how each person has a thinking pattern. Since the hats do not represent natural modes of thinking, each hat must be used for a limited time only. Also, many will feel that using the hats is peculiar, rough or even counterproductive way might improve their judgement. Some may find wearing a particular hat leading to ambiguity in decision making.

In a corporate meeting some people look at a problem as a small, easily solvable problem; while some might see serious clichés in it. Blue Hat sees the complete big picture, the goals and objectives with clarity; blue hat represents clarity in thoughts.  Red Hat looks at problems using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. The Red hat represents people with feelings and emotions. People often do not understand the reasoning behind the sensitive person’s recommended solutions. The red hat people have reactions full of feelings to a given problem. Wearing a White Hat represents objectivity; disseminating available data, using information on hand and determining the outcome. White Hat people use information effectively. They need all statistical data, spread sheets, previous reports for decision making. They look for knowledge gaps, and either fill them or assess the risk associated with them.

Black Hat thinkers are serious tinkers. They look at negative aspects of decision making. They look at everything very objectively and defensively. They assess the decision in regards to why it would work and more so why it might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan. Black Hat thinking helps to eliminate the flaws, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to minimize their impact. It is always better and cheaper to fail on paper than in the market. Black Hat thinkers prepare others in the group to think cautiously.  Yellow Hat thinkers are positive thinkers. They have a creative streak in them that allows one to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. They can easily think creative solutions. For them benefits need to be tangible and specific. Sometimes ideas might be unattractive but the concept behind it might have its weightage this is observed by the yellow hat thinkers. Green Hat thinkers stir the work atmosphere with their creativity and innovative thinking. Green Hat thinking gives solutions for a problem; they look at possibilities, options, ideas and choices.  It gives solutions for doing things in new way.

In a meeting we see each participant’s approach differently. Because everyone is focused on a particular approach at any one time, the group tends to be more collaborative when each participant gives his/her inputs. If one person is reacting emotionally (Red hat) while another person is trying to be objective (White hat) and still another person is being critical of the points which emerge from the discussion (Black hat), somebody has creative solution (Green Hat). Each of these hats aid the group’s perspective. Each individual addresses problems from a variety of angles. An individual might or might not be able to focus with a full-fledged approach in solving the problem. The concept of six thinking hats helps organization to develop leadership as the group listens to each other’s point of view. Team Productivity increases as each participant’s view point gets aligned with the group objectively. It helps people to think innovatively. It strengthens decision making. Product and processes Improve. Changes in organization can be tackled easily. Change management becomes easy. Performance bar can be raised high.

In today’s complex business environment organizations need to think on so many multifarious decisions in some complicated situations; at many such times the managers need a way to increase their odds of success and minimize the probability of a poor decision. Six thinking hats has a 360-degree approach which motivates a person to think outside his/her repetitive thinking style, and facilitates a more healthy valuation of a situation.

Many successful people think from a very rational, positive viewpoint. Rational thinking is easily understood and conclusions are generally well accepted. But, we rarely get the comfortable situation for making rational decisions. In many cases, our thought process fails to look at a problem from an emotional, intuitive, resourceful viewpoint. Does this mean that rational   decision makers underrate conflicting viewpoints? Six thinking hats does allow creative leaps and essential contingency plans. Similarly when pessimistic people tend to become defensive in many situations, driven by emotion alone, they fail to look at decisions calmly and rationally. When individuals and groups assess a problem with the ‘Six Thinking Hats’ technique, they can look at a situation or a problem through all possible lenses, thus allowing them to look at problems with effective blend of drive, skill in execution, public sensitivity, creativity and good contingency planning.

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) employed the six hat methodology in their support to Sri Lankan government’s attempts to improve the planning and implementation of post-tsunami housing and reconstruction efforts. To this end, Sri Lankan and German counterparts cooperated in a series of joint project planning sessions which began with ‘six thinking hats sessions’. These sessions were used to identify and generate mutual understanding of the key issues which needed to be better understood and addressed in the reconstruction process.

When an individual wants to ensure that what he/she is considering, whether everything is  relevant, the person can wear each hat in a sequence  blue – red – yellow – black – white – green, to gauge all spears and try to produce thoughts of that kind. If two contrasting thoughts pop up under the one hat, that is fine, both of them can be weighed simultaneously and the contradiction may be resolved.