Industry-Consortia Consultative System:  Master  Key To Significant Regional Impacts

Ronaldo Q. Dominguez
Supervising SRS, ITDD-PCIERD

How relevant are Consortia to regional development?  This question poses a need for a two stage assessment of the host of programs, projects and accomplishments of Industry and Energy Consortia.

For many, the first relevancy assessment begins with an assertion that progressive internal benefits to all member institutions had accrued by way of tangible and intangible gains. Consortium member institutions, particularly their consortium-designate personnel will  validly claim that  their  involvement with Consortium activities opened for them new research and development insights and  gainful understanding of  various research and development  methodologies.

For the most part, they affirm new or additional learning gained through the Consortium.  Members had developed a greater awareness about research management. More important, the Consortia fostered a practical avenue for inter-agency collaboration and sharing of resources and expertise to help advance or boost regional industry development.  In so far as relevance is concerned, all these gains are institutionally significant. These compendium of gains, in turn, were put to effective use by members toward improving their internal research and development operations and extension capabilities which are dissipated across various disciplines and institutional mandates. Overall, the first relevancy test emphasizes the inward  impacts.

The next  stage of regional relevancy measure for Consortia  deserves more careful attention.  The general reference point in this stage of assessment would be the demands, needs and problems of regional industries as derived from consultations or focus group discussions with sectoral industries.  Project identification and coordination, project  development and  finally execution of intervention measures should then follow. Finally, an assessment and valuation of the impacts of the Consortia's actual interventions, influence and services rendered  that actually addressed  and improved  the  status of the  region's industrial community. At this stage, the bottom line measure of  regional  relevance focuses on the valuation of the direct  contribution and measurable  impacts to the productivity and competitiveness of regional  SMEs. 

It cannot be overemphasized that the most crucial element in ensuring the relevance of Consortia to regional development is to assign utmost importance to the task of  incorporating  into the Consortia operation an Industry-Consortia consultative system. This is not only for    regional project identification but also in juxtaposition with the infrastructure capability building and human resource development plans of the Consortia and its members. The consultative system or whatever a consortium may wish to call it, should therefore be devised with a twin purpose, that is to identify industry needs and correlate the development of  Consortia member's  projects, activities and capabilities along the lines of addressing the annunciated needs of SMEs  in the region.

In this way, Consortia activities, interventions and projects can fittingly match as solutions to industry needs and problems.  Resources are more than ever becoming so limited. The  effects of globalization has already dawned upon our country. Our regional industries are under threat and may well be our last frontier for competitive stance. 

For real and significant regional relevance, it is now imperative for Consortia to reflect on the design and operations of a dynamic "Industry-Consortia Consultative System".