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Armand V. and Donald S. |
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Converging Technologies at Union Closing Remarks In his earlier remarks, my brother emphasized the importance of Converging Technologies as an integrating theme – a statement of identity and the commitment to it, as so well discussed in its many dimensions in the several presentations from which we have benefitted today. This clarity of identity is essential also in maintaining a steady course for preserving Union’s long-term values while also thus connecting them with the demanding new economic, social and technological environment now facing all of our institutions, particularly colleges and universities today. It has of course been from the effectiveness of your personal leadership in the framework of these kinds of values in today’s Union College that the creative development of Converging Technologies has been emerging, that the courageous commitment to the House System and the Minerva’s has been becoming a physical and social reality, and, in a very different but also important dimension, that the careful attention to the beauty and integrity of the campus is being scrupulously maintained and extended in the face of all this change. Indeed the restoration of the Nott Memorial from a symbol of past glory to today’s very visible central life force for Union College and the campus was an early physical indication for all to see of this attitude and perspective and vision. All of this is a world apart from the short-term educational initiatives of some other educational institutions in recent years that were oriented to the fireworks displays of special courses or institutes but which, unfortunately, died and were quietly buried without autopsy. Our conviction about Union as a College for these times in which we live is strongly reinforced by what we see through the window-on-the-world (to use the term of our Japanese associates) that is provided by General Systems’ international global activities. It particularly emphasizes the high relevance of converging technologies in its various forms to the character of today’s international environment - fully as much as to that of domestic America - and the importance to the understanding by the men and women who are being educated for leadership today. It’s an area on some dimensions of which Union has very successfully already been focusing in terms abroad and also has the framework for its continuing evolution in international educational terms. And it’s a subject which, during a recent conversation with my brother concerning these concluding remarks, we both agreed I should discuss. I’m particularly referring to the impact of the emphasis upon technology convergence in various forms we are seeing internationally today. Interestingly, its recognition is one of the keys to understanding the driving forces behind some of the most significant growth areas of the world - India, China and South Korea among others. For example in India, of course a country of enormous human and economic challenge, the IIT’s - the Indian Institutes of Technology - have been becoming significant educational leaders in the integration of science and mathematics with technology. Moreover, they are becoming factors in the convergence of this technology in social as well as economic terms. They are no longer solely focused schools of technology anymore than are Cal Tech or MIT today. In their case, the effect of their impact has also been support for the sociological and economic evolution of India. This recognizes the life expectations of young men and women in India who are no longer willing - as their parents and grandparents might have been - to settle for being second or third class in the ways they could live nor in the ways they could work nor in the products and services they could buy. Technology education and application at the IIT level is evolving as a national pathway to the environment and jobs creating this better life for them. And in economic and business management terms it has helped in the evolution of a new character and personality of technology based leadership. The pace of business and industrial implementation and growth is significantly much faster in the light of this new leadership. We see this not only in our General Systems Company’s projects but also in the speed of the translations and utilization of Don Feigenbaum’s and my books. For example, our current book, The Power of Management Capital, has been out a little over a year in its American edition but the Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, Indian and Japanese editions have already been out for months. A decade ago those translations would have required a several year process. America’s so-called information outsourcing to India, for example, is being importantly influenced by the strength and efficiency of this convergence of technology with these social and economic values. What has been widely publicized in the press has been the low costs of this outsourcing. However, what has been less fully discussed is the potential of these social and economic values to make it also a long-term competitive strength for India as the low costs are ultimately and inevitably matched and beaten from other sources. Much the same evolution exists in parts of Malaysia, China and South Korea and elsewhere in Asia these days. The drivers are sometimes the men and women educated in Western universities who return home and become leaders and pacesetters for this Asian character of the Converging Technology focus. As an integrating theme, a statement of identity and a commitment, it is highly relevant in basic principle to the Union College emphasis on and leadership in converging technologies that we are discussing here today. It’s also highly relevant and a shared key in the emphasis and concept of leadership for Union graduates as they enter today’s new international environment. And it’s another of the reasons, as I mentioned earlier, for our conviction that today’s Union is a College for these times in which we live. I’ve very much enjoyed learning more here this afternoon about today’s Union College’s strong progress in these terms under Roger Hull’s and all of your collective leadership as well about the issues with which you are dealing in assuring the continuance of this progress. Let me conclude by remarking how enjoyable it is for us that these discussions take place in this fine building about whose maintenance we’re so satisfied and whose portraits of us downstairs bring to Don and me the great magic of staying put - never changing - in a world that for us is otherwise always in constant redevelopment. And Don also joins me in expressing our pleasure in the opportunity and privilege for us of once again meeting with you and taking part in this Forum.
Armand V. Feigenbaum |
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