Washington – In order to ensure the future vitality of HBCUs, leaders of the institutions must position their faculty and students inside the corporate world to learn needs of business and how to speak business language.
It also pays to have administrators who know how to navigate the federal contract process and have principal investigators who have the requisite “depth and breadth” of knowledge that it takes to compete for coveted government contracts.
Those were some of the key pieces of advice that a top military research administrator proffered Thursday at the UNCF Special Programs Corporation 2012 Knowledge Forum.
“Talk to corporations about how you can help them with their R&D,” said Dr. Reginald Brothers, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research within the U.S. Department of Defense. “Try to understand what a particular laboratory is doing.”
Brothers made his remarks during a panel titled “Small Business, Entrepreneurship and Innovation.” Brothers and other federal administrators said that, while it’s expedient to learn how the federal contract process works, nothing trumps relationships when it comes to getting results.
“Capital does not flow to the best ideas,” said David Hinson, National Director of the Minority Business Development Agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. “It flows to the best relationships.”
Other panelists included an HBCU leader who could attest to that claim.
