Crossing boundaries and crafting futures

Prof Hanlie Smuts, Head of the Department of Informatics and Chair of the School of Information Technology in the University of Pretoria (UP)’s Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology, delivered her inaugural address on 7 November 2024. The title of her presentation was “Crossing boundaries and crafting futures: The role of industry partnerships in transdisciplinary research”.

Prof Smuts has vast industry experience and works primarily in the field of information systems and organisation. She is particularly interested in the research domain of knowledge management and its relationship to Society 5.0, enterprise architecture, artificial intelligence, disruptive technologies and big data in organisations.

She believes that transdisciplinary research and knowledge translation are crucial to address complex global challenges, such as urban development, smart cities, digital transformation, healthcare digitalisation and supply chain management. “This approach integrates scientific and non-scientific methods, and involves diverse stakeholders to produce both publishable research and practical solutions with societal impact.” Challenges include poor communication across disciplines, competing interests, time allocation, impact measurement and balancing divergent and convergent thinking.

In her inaugural address, Prof Smuts explained that her time in the telecommunications industry prior to joining the ranks of academia formed her thinking about research, particularly the different approaches and outputs that are developed through collaboration with industry partners.

Following the completion of her PhD degree, which focused on the development of a knowledge management framework for information systems outsourcing, she realised the importance of managing the flow of knowledge. The implementation of this framework in the organisation made her realise the value of scientific inquiry and research, and its relevance in industry.

She joined the University of Pretoria as an Associate Professor in the Department of Informatics in 2017. Crossing the boundary between industry and academia was accompanied by a steep learning curve. A milestone event, which showed her that she can still make a difference in industry as an academic, was her rating by the National Research Foundation (NRF) as a C2 researcher. This reinforced her view of the value of research to industry.

She explained that her broad research area is information systems and organisations, with a specific focus on knowledge management. This incorporates problem solving, critical thinking and the expertise that is required in an organisation to generate, process and apply information for decision making, and ultimately innovation in organisations.

This is achieved by applying explicit and implicit knowledge in an organisation. She compares the boundaries of knowledge work in an organisation to a pyramid. As the base layer, raw data needs to be transformed - through various steps - into actionable wisdom. The apex of the pyramid represents the level at which decisions are taken, and where knowledge can be used for innovation. Knowledge work is the process of converting data into wisdom by obtaining information and knowledge. Knowledge management is therefore closely aligned with research, where new knowledge is created by transforming the data that has been collected into a specific research outcome.

When one considers the flow of knowledge at a more detailed level, one has to examine the employees in the organisation, who work together in teams or departments, as well as the organisation itself. “Typically, an organisation’s employees have acquired both discipline-specific and institutional knowledge, as well as certain technical competencies and skills.” As team members work together, they share existing knowledge, but also create new knowledge that may be applied to create value for the organisation.

She explains that the process of sharing and creating knowledge fundamentally takes place in four ways: through socialisation (where an employee shares their knowledge and experience with others), externalisation (where individual knowledge is documented and shared with others), combination (the collection of knowledge from inside or outside the organisation, which is then combined and processed to form new organisational knowledge) and internalisation (where organisational knowledge becomes part of an employee’s frame of reference).

Within an organisation, these processes of knowledge flow are often used interchangeably to ensure that individual knowledge is converted into organisational knowledge. This is a continuous process of creating and expanding upon existing knowledge, which supports collaboration and innovation within an organisation, adding value to the organisation.

Drawing on her experience in managing commercial relationships and overseeing joint research projects, she illustrated how integrating diverse knowledge and expertise addresses complex challenges. “Industry partnerships offer vital resources, expertise and real-world data, which enhance research relevance and impact.”

Illustrating the concept of commercialisation as an example of industry collaboration, she presented a project in which she had co-supervised a student in Radiology from the Faculty of Health Sciences. This project was aimed at developing a mobile application for pregnant radiographers to monitor and manage the foetus’s exposure to radio-active waves. A prototype was developed and, through a partnership with industry, a commercial brand established based on the student’s intellectual property. 

She explained that transdisciplinary research serves as a foundation for change to provide evidence-based insights and analysis, support informed decision making, address societal issues and guide regulatory frameworks. This is also incorporated in international collaboration between academics, practitioners and policy makers. She therefore proceeded to develop a framework to empower researchers and industry partners to scale their engagement in transdisciplinary projects so as to make a difference in society.

She emphasised that, although the two partners have very different capabilities, objectives and priorities, they operate within the same world of work. Academia is research-intensive, focused on quality, industry-relevant teaching and learning, expertise and the scientific method. In contrast, industry works with operational software solutions, business processes, operational data, stakeholder value and a fully equipped workforce. The challenge was therefore to leverage the different attributes of these two partners for transdisciplinary research.

“Traditionally, research has been reflected through either a linear model, where basic research leads to applied research, or a reverse linear model, where one listens to the business problem and solves it collaboratively.”  Prof Smuts suggests following the ABC principle of Ben Shneiderman, a renowned computer scientist from the University of Maryland in the USA. He identified the new ABCs of research, which are essential to achieve breakthrough collaborations. This suggests a more cyclic relationship between applied and basic research, which encompasses Applied and Basic Combined. This model provides the foundation for continuous improvement. It is more flexible and makes provision for transdisciplinary research by crossing the boundaries between basic and applied research. This provides scope for researchers to pay attention to the relationship with industry and its relevance to the world of work, and for industry to incorporate technology disruption and replicable scientific experiments in its models.

The advantage of this approach for academia is that researchers can work with real-world scenarios, and can ensure that their module content is not only relevant in industry, but that graduates are ready for the world of work. It also enables researchers to influence policy. There are benefits for industry as well. These include being able to improve processes and optimise their business models as they have a scientific foundation. “Close collaboration between academia and industry co-creates solutions, addresses societal needs, accelerates innovation, facilitates knowledge transfer and promotes scalable solutions,” she says.

She believes that the full potential of transdisciplinary research can be harnessed by fostering equitable collaborations, thereby creating a more sustainable and inclusive future. Her address therefore underscored the importance of strong academia-industry partnerships, which drive interdisciplinary innovation for societal benefit. “Academics can expand their academic horizons, translate knowledge into real-world solutions, and enrich teaching and learning,” she concluded.

In her closing remarks, Prof Smuts stated: “So, I would like to invite you, whether you are a faculty member, an industry partner or a colleague, to step over that boundary and cross that border. As we create new knowledge by working together from our different perspectives, where we apply our transdisciplinarity, we can craft better futures together.”