Dr. David Reggio has returned to the QS Intelligence Unit, as the new Global Head of Consulting. With a real focus on innovation and relevance to the market, he explains how this service can help your institution:
D.R.: In a nutshell, QS Consulting offers concrete solutions and insight for HE institutions and related organisations. Each project has a range of stakeholders and we go beyond providing intelligence reports: we conduct a tailored and thorough diagnosis. Higher education institutions seeking to enhance their strategy and/or improve implementation can benefit from our personalised, bespoke services.
- Who are the consultants?
D.R.:. There are three leads in the team, including myself. Dr. Shadi Hijazi is the man for marketing and change management, while Jacques de Champchesnel has worked in HE institutions on recruitment strategy and campus development. Between us, we have effected change and gained experience in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. We also have a network of specialists and experts, so, for example, if there is an assignment for which an area of nano-medicine or irradiation is a strategic driver, then we have necessary recourse to the professional in that field for their participation and input. What’s more, consulting is housed in the QS Intelligence Unit, so we have access to tremendous insight, skills-sets, and, of course, data. We are defined by strong dexterity and fluency not just with higher education per se, but with the horizon of science, technology and society.
- In which case or at which step should an institution consider this service?
D.R.: It depends on what the institution wants to achieve and where it wants to go. We have many different projects ranging in duration from one to several years. We have projects from the comparatively small to the huge, from simpler engagements to extremely complex projects, from dissemination strategies, to evaluation criteria, to recruitment strategy and advisory, to full institutional overhaul. It is important to remember that we provide strategic instruments and solutions. For example, if an institution wants to audit its research or the effectiveness of its network then we can build a system just for that with specific metrics aligned to institutional and corporate strategy. If an institution is seeking high-impact partnerships and a geo-targeting strategy for key global regions, then we can build the necessary bridges and respective framework to ensure sustainability and impact. There are also cases where we evaluate and advise on tenders as well as research funding, at a national and global level.
- Once an institution gets in touch with you, what happens next?
D.R.: We then engage meetings in person or a conference call to precisely establish needs and challenges and we go from there. I won’t disclose the specifics of our consulting process but I would encourage institutions to get in touch for a chat if they want to know more.
- You’ve been appointed Global Head of Consulting. What changes are you looking to implement?
D.R.: There’s a lot going on in science, innovation and society, from nanomedicine to future cities. QS has always been defined by the relevance of its projects and ability to align with changing horizons in HE. From the perspective of innovation, the world is very different to what it was even fifteen years ago and consulting is plugged in to these changes and transitions defining new phases in the fields of science and technology. I’m very keen to see us become the “go-to” for innovation partnerships for example, and a leading provider of effective bridge building. I will give you an example: if you have a transparent map of global research activity and a map of global innovation activity and place one of top of the other, you will see different concentrations and densities about what is being done where and how. Institutions and specialist institutes have a key role to play in what we call national and regional development and every institution wants impact – impact that can only be achieved through effective global engagement and effective strategy. Also, if you think back to the Millennium Development Goals, we now have 2030 as the next landmark for development processes. With this, innovation goes beyond traditional questions of research applicability alone because there are multiple beneficiaries involved in processes of innovation. On this point, there are technological parks doing extraordinary work in their specific fields like nanotechnology and manufacturing processes. Similarly, there are institutions doing remarkable work in terms of public health, education, with schools, with hospitals.
A high impact partnership doesn’t necessarily have to be in aerospace. It can also be in, for example, education where the provision and training of special needs are key factors because they feature as a key target for the Ministry of Education in that partner country. So when I say that we want to become the “go-to” provider of intelligent solutions for institutions, I want to express that we will be, and we are becoming in fact, a consultancy that is in constant dialogue with these 21st century developments, challenges, and priorities.
- Why QS instead of another consulting branch?
D.R.: In short, we provide tremendous return on investment. QS can assemble previously untapped data on both mature and emerging target markets because of its extensive global expertise. We can furnish cutting-edge insights and solutions for governments, industries, institutions and the wider public – sometimes extra levers and instruments are needed or more refined optics for analysis are required. Our in-house team of experts, as well as our global network of collaborating experts, provide a unique combination of skills and experiences that are tailored to each individual and unique project. In this way, our consulting clients get world-class answers and solutions to the most demanding problems they are facing.
Dr. David Reggio is the QS Intelligence Unit’s Global Head of Consulting, an international advisor and strategist with extensive global experience in partnership building, innovation, industrial alliances and research frameworks. He has worked in Latin America, Asia and Europe in the fields of government engagement, strategic alliances, public health and frontier science. Get in touch.
