It pays to promote joint PhD programmes between academia and the private sector

Abstract

The prosperity of a country is closely related to its level of education to fuel research and innovation. Doctoral graduates have attained the highest education level and should be the key players in research and innovation. The number of doctoral graduates is increasing rapidly in most/many countries, but is less well correlated to changes in prosperity of a country.
The innovative medicines initiative (IMI) was established to help Europe strengthen its position in biomedical research and development. During its planning stage IMI observed large gaps in the scientific interaction between academia and industry in Europe, and that undergraduate students were not realizing the career opportunities within biomedical R&D. A major objective for the education and training section of IMI, the European Medicines Research Training Network (EMTRAIN, http://www.emtrain.eu), has therefore been to work out a framework for public private partnership PhD (PPP-PhD) and to create a cohort of networking, industry-aware scientists.