PTC's John Stuart: "For the manufacturing industry, the STEM education opportunity is a clear example of how to create shared value."
Increasing Support for PLM Education
Meaningful experience with PLM and an understanding of the importance of collaboration have become a necessary skill for graduates as a result of the globalization of product design, the explosion of product complexity and increasing regulatory pressures. In recognition of the need for increased support around PLM education, PTC recently announced a partnership with the NASA Glenn Research Center and Case Western Reserve University in support of the Strategic Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering (SPACE) initiative, a program that brings global leaders together in product development and partners them with colleges of engineering and business to catalyze new partnerships in product development research and education, focusing on PLM education.
So how does this help PTC and the manufacturing industry? Certainly, positive recognition from local communities across the United States doesn’t hurt one bit, but many of the “shared value” benefits come downstream. PTC’s customers often partner with us in supporting student teams, strengthening our relationship with them. Students who participate in these programs and go on to become engineers will have been exposed to PTC’s CAD and PLM tools from a young age. Not only does this provide them with tangible, real-world experience for their resume, they are now more inclined to pursue job opportunities where they would use PTC’s tools.
Manufacturers have much to gain from learning to think in shared value terms: aligning society with business can certainly be a mutually beneficial way to impact the community and an organization’s success, and engaging students by supporting after-school programs that foster STEM education is only one way to pursue these initiatives.
When a manufacturer engages its community in ways that encourage the growth and development of its industry, the manufacturer, community and industry all see the benefits of that shared value. In a world where business increasingly has been viewed as a contributor to social, environmental, and economic problems, where companies have been perceived to be prospering at the expense of the broader community, programs seeking to create shared value can help manufacturers change the conversation and show they can drive societal change while still creating growth and supporting their industries now and in the future.
John Stuart is the senior vice president of Global Education and country manager of PTC Eastern Europe. He is responsible for providing the vision and guidance in developing PTC’s education program.
