Crippled helix to triple helix for national development

Helixes and helical structures became famous perhaps due to the discovery of modern science when unravelling of the DNA (deoxyribose nucleic acid) took place in UK.

This led to identification of the potential importance of this helical structure in terms of inheritance and living, and science in society thereafter took a new turn.Today buzz words of all sorts are filling up communication channels. A biz literature buzz word in vogue is ‘Corporate DNA’. The use of words and phrases from science and technology is quite common in the business world – I do sometime question whether most of them use the words with some understanding of their meaning or to indicate being jargon savvy.

Use of words without understanding is similar to action without thinking. Your inner systems are not in synch with your outer actions and that is true with individuals as well as organisations when this situation develops.

‘Corporate DNA’ is taken to mean the corporate thought process. The DNA aspect comes from the significant discovery of Watson and Crick. There was a global race to identify the structure and the team from Cambridge beat other research groups to this most important discovery of science of the last century. As I have mentioned earlier, the very process offers us insight on how to move on with resources and people.

The ‘Corporate DNA’ concept came out of human DNA, which is quite unique. You and I cannot alter it through a normal course of action. DNA fingerprinting has shown the power of this understanding. The extension of this concept means corporates develop or have their unique identities. The strength of that identity demonstrates the genetic makeup.

Remember it is the collective genetic makeup of the individuals within the organisation through their ethos and capabilities, and the summation perhaps gives that identity. Hence it is possible to mention names of organisations and remember particular individuals such as GE and Jack Welch, Sony and Akio Morita, Anita Rodick and Body Shop, etc. In these instances these individuals have crafted the corporation with values and a culture and uniqueness, thus giving rise to a particular ‘Corporate DNA’.

The idea I intend to communicate is to call for the ‘Corporate DNA’ to develop that instinct and aptitude for innovation as is the case with Apple and 3M – the organisations to seek out their existence through a pioneering spirit rather than through ‘me too’ existence or riding on ‘network connections’.

In these latter approaches you will be spending time in a busy manner but among peers the respect for your organisation’s DNA would not be high. Your associates are likely to be more of the same type, which means, as in any relationship, the chances of making any impact is quite negligible.

The symptoms of such crippled DNA may be constant search for subsidies and grants – all excited by the next wave of grants, hiring policies based on connections rather than capabilities – Cs hiring Cs –  the interest in staying in shadows of ‘big names of trade’ – connected to, of course.

An attempt in listing out our organisation’s key attributes and recent innovations would indicate how the DNA is developing in this area. One of my industry discussants once told me that in Sri Lanka the popular saying that ‘a pundit cannot walk across an edanda’ had been literally applied in most settings to develop a situation of keeping edandas in place – may mean old technology and systems for individuals with no creative cells in bodies and getting rid of or shunning pundits in general within organisations.

One should try to understand how true the statement is by taking a closer look at one’s organisational structure. The interesting feature of ‘Corporate DNA’ is that unlike biological DNA, one can tinker around with less fear and attempt splicing the strands of helix with intent to bring about specific attributes. The best way is to ensure a culture of learning leading to organic growth. The double helix needs to stay healthy with ability to reproduce and not in any way crippled!

Moving from the crippled helix to embrace a triple helix model is indeed a big policy shift. Triple Helix is an important concept related to innovation. The triple helix model for innovation considers the nexus of government-industry-university.

The concept highlights the importance of different parties with different concepts, mindsets and priorities coming together in realising innovation. As had been stated, innovation is an invention culminating with tangible results at commercial level.

Immediately it is evident that in Sri Lanka at present the three components are definitely not aligned in any meaningful manner and not much reciprocal relationships exist. Universities as an entity appear distinctively marginalised in policies of innovation and growth. The sole intention in almost all circles appear to be that the function of university systems are to be that of giving degrees or ensuring that those who come out of such places are to be immediately employable.

The State’s constant concern is unemployability of the graduate. The industry captains wants graduates to speak and function in the way they want and immediate adherence to the routes and ways that their industry ships are sailing.

Research in universities is a dark area for most on the outside. Sri Lanka has failed to realise this significant aspect and continues to drive the curricula-examinations-graduates ideology. Even from within, the fact that undergraduates significantly benefit when a healthy graduate community exists with a vibrant research culture has escaped attention.

Research for promotion, engaging in graduate courses for the next increment and management studies to eke out some points for migration are thoughts and practices that are more prevalent. The

State’s role of being a venture capitalist through supporting innovation targeted research is totally absent. Hence, even the triple helix is in a crippled state today.

Explore and open your eyes to the world and one would see the tremendous amount of commercialised inventions that stream out of universities. What is even more evident is setting up of specific structures in supporting free thinking and making ways to bring out such ideas into mainstream. That is the objective of triple helix model of innovation.

The State’s role is to strongly facilitate this development. Industry’s close connection is to ensure that ideas and developments speedily hit the road, essentially cutting down lag time. With patenting and intellectual property rights becoming quite stringent and important, the speed to market in the right way is important.

Ask again a simple question to determine the local situation if you are an industry captain. How many university based concepts have you taken in and developed or how many ideas have you listened to in the last few months? How often have you persuaded the Government to support innovation through research funding or seek out ways for incentivising such funding even by yourself?

Watson and Crick used a cycle shed in the university to play with the assembly process in determining the double helix. We cannot have our space merely used for planning anarchy or painting posters. The disconnect breeds more disconnect. Even in the search for the DNA, the initial hypothesis was a triple helix. However, for innovation, the model applicable is the triple helix. The spirit in this direction is what is required today.

James Dyson, who counted 5,127 iterations on the way to his first sale of his bag-less vacuum cleaner, did not fail 5,126 times but worked according to his own words – “anyone developing new products and new technology needs one characteristic above all hope!”

At this juncture we need to embed ‘hope’ into our individual and corporate genes, therefore the DNA, as we look forward to an economy where things need to happen if the growth is to be real!



(Professor Ajith de Alwis is Professor of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. With an initial BSc Chemical engineering Honours degree from Moratuwa, he proceeded to the University of Cambridge for his PhD. He is a Science Team Leader at the Sri Lanka Nanotechnology Institute. He can be reached via email on [email protected])