When will Academia stop focusing on what the industry already does and start focusing on what the industry does not want or cannot do?

Still, on the controversial statement made by retired professor Terry Young, it is clear that if the industry does not engage in peer review activities then Academia must give a higher value to this activity. In order to tackle the problem of reviewer shortage which has been worsening, in order to prevent the publication deluge and also to deal with the serious problem that was mentioned in The Economist on May 30 of 2020.

It is also clear that if the industry does not produce scientific books, this output should be more valued in Academia. Even more than the production of articles related to (profitable) experimental studies, in which the industry shows not only great dynamism but also a growing dominance because let´s not forget that three years ago only 200 companies were responsible for 40% of research worldwide, which means that in the medium term companies will inevitably end up dominating technological research on this planet, or at least that research from which they can extract high profits.

A few years ago, I had already criticized Academia to focus on wanting to do what is done in the industry, which at the very least reveals serious strategic disorientation (not to mention the perverse incentives) and at the most can even contribute to eroding the prestige of the Academia and its natural and superior mission: “…Universities will not be able to fulfill their mission as long as they keep trying to replicate corporate practices. Corporate live by the motto “show me the money” a motto very different from the ethical ones that many Western universities say they live by…That´s why Academia must be a repository of the moral values that sustain Western democracies...And if they continue to follow that misleading path they risk ending up not being Universities nor corporations. In my vision Universities have a special role in inspiring, giving hope, and forming the sustainable citizens needed to build that new (type one) civilization, multicultural, tolerant, and scientific society…”

PS – It’s not really a surprise that a recent report by Elsevier showed that one of the most popular MOOC topics is “Personal development” https://pachecotorgal.com/2022/06/10/elsevier-the-future-of-research-revealed/