SUNDAY 3RD JULY, 2016 – UWI TODAY
13
“Most people would have heard of the PHI of which I am co-inventor. The journey of that invention to commercial reality
was stymied by activities that just about everyone is aware of but which I really do not care to discuss at this forum. What is
significant is the fact that the reason why there is still strong interest in the product, even after a forced 4-year hiatus, is largely
because of the input of people like
Lesley Anne Noel
of the DCFA, who used her ergonomic furniture design and artistic skills in
conceptualizing the instrument chassis – widely acclaimed as a stupendous work of art, as well as
AnushkaMahabir
,
Rehanna
Mohammed
and
Allende Lee Lung
all UWI students of marketing who did the marketing plan for the product that culminated
in its appearance in
Nicki Minaj’s
“Pound the Alarm”
video that has now accumulated over 175 million views.”
–
Professor Brian Copeland
spoke on Engineering for the growth of the Manufacturing and the Non Petroleum Sector at the
Conference on Diversifying the Economy through Engineering on May 18, 2016. UWI St. Augustine. Ph
Photographed here with the current Dean of the Faculty of Engineering,
Stephan Gift.
to get to a place where every two years, at least one start-up
company comes out of this Campus.This will provide funds
to do more research while making a positive impact on the
regional economic space through the creation of new highly
competitive companies, he says.
He knows that it will not be easy sailing, and mistakes
will be made before the University acquires the experience
and the culture of a profit-making institution. He believes
guidance can be found by examining the income-earning
models of other universities. He is big on the concept of
developing homegrown solutions as a means of nurturing
the local and regional human capacity to innovate and to
engage in innovation-based entrepreneurship.
In this context, he has very strong concerns about the
ownership of intellectual property, which is an aspect of him
wanting the University, staff and students to retain as much
control as possible over the implementation and commercial
exploitation of ideas, systems and processes.
“If we could partner with somebody and accelerate
it, no problem, but we must be the ones in charge. I’m not
bringing anyone to do anything in here for us. We are too
old a university. We’ve been around society for too long and
we have to break out of that. We could do a lot for ourselves.”
Prof Copeland takes up this new leadership after
having served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering from
2007-2015. That experience is partly the basis of his belief
in leadership by example, respect for people and sharing
a vision.
“Leadership to me has to start with respect for the
people around you. Fairness, openness and transparency are
part of this respect, which is why I say it starts with people;
it ends with people.”
“I just don’t like to see people treated unfairly. I don’t
like to see systems being misused. As a matter of fact, I
think anybody who does that, they’re lucky I amnot a prime
minister because I consider it as treason.”
He also believes that your visionmust be clear and well
communicated, “so people will understandwhere youwould
like to go. That vision has to be owned by all so it means it
has to be developed by all.”
And since he feels that everyone has to be able to see
the vision and contribute to it, he feels strongly that a leader
has to be able to walk the talk. “If you’re asking people to do
certain things you have to be willing to do it yourself, and
in the same context, and you have to be prepared to jump
in and help them.
As Campus Principal he will have to lead by example
at a time when the economic outlook for the region, and
for Trinidad and Tobago, is not particularly encouraging.
The UWI St. Augustine, like the rest of the country,
finds itself with reduced financial resources and the
associated challenges that this damp outlook brings. But
he is undaunted and welcomes the opportunity to take the
Campus “…more into an entrepreneurial mode.”
This has been his personal goal for the Campus for
about 20 years and now he has the chance to realise it. The
question of financing is a “very, very big one” and he agrees
that in addressing this challenge he would need to engage
stakeholders (primarily governments) and reassert the
important role UWI has in the region.
Clearly having spent some time pondering the role of
the University and how he plans to use his term in office
to lead the campus community, Professor Copeland makes
reference to an address by former Barbados PrimeMinister,
Errol Barrowwho spoke ofThe UWI’s leadership role in the
region at a 1968 Graduation address.
What Sir Errol said then had obviously resonated
profoundly with him, as he has quoted it more than once
publicly. “…a university institution cannot survive unless
it has as its constant goal service to the communities that
support and sustain its activities.”
Within a regional university structure, how he intends
to serve our communities will have to come about through
a paradigm shift, “in terms of the way we do things and in
terms of what our primary focus should be.”
He talks about changing some existing organizational
processes which, in his view, UWI St. Augustine, has
outgrown.
“In just a few short years, you quadruple your numbers,
staffing has not increased in kind, and the organizational
and administrative framework remains essentially the
same,” he says.
It has come about from years of reflection; as a part of
the system; as Dean of a Faculty which has invested heavily
in refining its processes. And it comes from a mind that
has been nurtured in the kind of creative environment so
conducive to developing an innovative capacity. It’s not
surprising that Professor Copeland received a national
award for his contribution to the refinement of the Steelpan.
He is, after all, the son of deceasedmas manMack Copeland.
For those who have an idea of what goes on in the
world of Carnival, it would be easy to align this space with
his creativity and passion, and to see that his business
instincts are sharp.
Just over a week ago, speaking at the Technical
Conference of the Association of Professional Engineers of
Trinidad and Tobago, he challenged them to redefine the
concept of innovation, recommending a version found in a
business dictionary that said, “the process of translating an
idea or invention into a good or service that creates value
or for which customers will pay.”
He didn’t want the definition of innovation to be seen
as simply coming up with a novel idea, but as one that could
be brought to commercial application and success. He told
the engineers that he had also come to realise that there were
two other key dimensions of innovation that were social
and ecological in nature, and that the whole business of
innovation was based on elements that, together, supported
sustainable development.
It is essentially the mantra he has been singing within
academia for more than twenty years.
Outside of academia, he is probably best known as the
G-Pan Man, in connection with the musical instrument he
patented as its inventor in 2009. The Percussive Harmonic
Instrument (P.H.I.) was also patented with him as co-
inventor, along with Marcel Byron, Keith Maynard and the
late Earle Phillip. This is perhaps one of the best examples of
how academic interests can combine with personal passion
to contribute to national development, he says.
His work in the development of the national instrument
has spanned over 30 years – from as early as 1983 when
he and Prof. Stephan Gift (current Dean of the Faculty of
Engineering) published “Development of an Electronic Steel
Pan” in the West Indian Journal of Engineering.
Born in San Fernando, where he still lives with his wife,
he is a father of two adult children.
Professor Brian Russell Nigel Copeland’s CV runs
over 13 pages, with lists of publications, reports, teaching
accomplishments, innovations, development programmes,
funding and awards. With all of these accomplishments one
might expect him to bask in the spotlight. On the contrary
he is quick to dismiss such a notion and says, “I never was
into that. I don’t stand on ceremony…”
He fully accepts that his new office will call for
ceremonial duties and other rites of the office, and it would
be his duty to oblige in those functions.
It is early days yet, but time will surely unfold more of
Professor Copeland’s innovative thinking, something the
University needs in these straitened times.
