How to forge stronger ties between universities and industry

In a Times Higher Education blog post Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor at the University of Waterloo, offers several key recommendations on how to build successful industry-sponsored research partnerships.

For one, he says, it’s important to specify at the very beginning what terms are not open to negotiation. “For example, a company must understand the need for academics and their students to publish,” he says – a fact that should be stressed before any agreement is drafted.

Regarding IP terms, he adds, researchers must be allowed to continue their studies regardless of where the IP ownership lies. “It’s not just about the money,” Hamdullahpur notes. “While companies need preferred access to intellectual property, it is vital to protect the ability of researchers to be able to continue their main line of research without being locked out of future research as a result of overly restrictive IP terms.”

Hamdullahpur provides these additional recommendations:

Focus on the research opportunity. Rather than focusing on royalties from a license, he says, “work with researchers to uncover their aspirations and find an arrangement that provides value for both sides.”
Understand the culture. Managing expectations is important, since both parties might not have a full understanding of the others’ culture. For example, make sure the PI understands that corporate research funding is not a grant, and on the other side make sure the company understands that faculty don’t view partnerships “work for hire” agreements.
Timelines and deliverables can also carry different meanings to industry versus academia. “A ‘long-term horizon’ might mean two years to a company and 10 years to an academic researcher,” he points out. Likewise, industry should understand that given the nature of scientific research and the inability to predict specific results, “a strict schedule of deliverables is usually not possible,” he notes. 

Hamdullahpur also advises establishing a corporate “front door” for potential partnerships. That’s one way, he says, that universities can ease the path for corporations to engage not only with sponsored research, but in a variety of ways throughout an academic ecosystem. Another attraction is an institute or research hub that can “coordinate large concentrations of researchers around a general theme,” he observes.

He concludes: “Interdisciplinary and international research partnerships among academics, corporations and other partners, when managed well, allow innovation to flourish and all participants to reap benefits.”