Unlocking Effective University-Industry Communications: Bridging the Gap between Universities and Industry Partners

When it comes to forging strong partnerships between universities and industry, the adage, “It’s not what you said… it’s how you said it” holds true.

Speak to anybody in the corporate research world who has collaborated with academia, and they will have a story to tell. The painful memory of the 75-slide presentation. The time they tried to find an answer on the university’s website and gave up twenty-five clicks into it. The countless times a prospective university partner told them they were excellent at every subject matter.

Miscommunication between academia and industry often gets in the way of collaboration.

Understanding the Key: Targeted Communication

For successful collaborations, the key to effectively communicating research strengths or other opportunities with industry lies in understanding one basic marketing principle – know your target audience.

The people who create most university websites and print materials understand their audience as prospective, current, and past students, parents, and to some extent faculty and staff. University websites that effectively address industry are small in number as compared to those that do not. So, when you direct a corporate partner to the Office of Research website to learn more – they find themselves wading through information intended for faculty. Think for a minute about how many acronyms your university uses – do you want to subject prospective partners to that?

Many of those within universities who seek corporate partners are faculty and staff who do not have the support of a marketing department for their particular endeavor. Even those that do have marketing support often find themselves unprepared to explain the audience to the marketing professionals.

Empowering Universities with Effective Communication

Recognizing the significance of this communication gap, UIDP, the parent company of UI Collab, asked me to create a Quick Guide to tackle these challenges head-on. As it developed, we realized that it would be helpful to provide an example of graphics and language described in the guide. Thus, the University Capabilities Statement Template was born. This customizable template equips universities to showcase their strengths in a way that resonates with industry partners. By allowing institutions to upload their logos and relevant content, the template simplifies the process of presenting unique capabilities.

Embracing a marketing mindset, understanding the target audience, and focusing on clear, concise messaging will help bridge gaps between universities and industry, fostering innovation and progress. If you are a university stakeholder seeking to strengthen industry partnerships, begin by downloading the Quick Guide and giving it to your marketing team. Or use the University Capabilities Statement Template to develop your own compelling message in a way that industry can hear it.