Academic Engagement for Industry

Elements of Success

Goals

First, establish goals for your program – there are many reasons for companies to engage with universities, typically involving some combination of talent acquisition, continuing education, philanthropy, access to thought leaders, and technology development. Ensure that you know what you hope to achieve and structure your program accordingly.

Executive Support

Second, ensure support for those goals from senior management and alignment of goals across your stakeholder base. One approach we have found to be successful is to identify a senior role in the organization that takes ownership of the university relationship. Often this is a VP or C-Level individual responsible for research and innovation, but that may differ depending on your organizational structure. Regardless of where the sponsor sits organizationally, it is important that this be part of the formal objectives of the job function, rather than an individual’s pet project.  This will help ensure continuity in the program if the sponsor moves on to another function or leaves the organization.   

Staff

We also believe the most effective industry-based programs have an individual or team whose primary function is managing the university program – if it is everybody’s job, it is nobody’s job. In a recent webinar on this topic, my colleague Ed Krause and I described and discussed the importance of Academic Research Engagement Teams to facilitate university-industry collaboration. This individual or team should be well networked and respected across the organization. Typically, someone with experience in technology and business across the breadth of your organization is well positioned for success in this role. 

Budget

As Jerry Maguire famously said, “show me the money.”  A dedicated budget that does not depend on the whims of an individual or unpredictable budget fluctuations is critical. While we recognize the need for course corrections, and budget trimming is a reality of the corporate world, budget stability should not be taken lightly.  Building relationships with universities requires prolonged and consistent engagement.  If one is constantly uncertain about the sustainability of funding, it becomes challenging to plan for and build an effective university engagement program.

Metrics

As with many things, “you get what you measure.”  Establishing metrics will drive an organization toward accomplishing what they have defined as success.  It is likely that initial metrics may be based on behaviors and other non-financial accomplishments.  Counting publications, invention disclosures, patent filings, students hired from the university, or even number of on-campus visits for the purpose of establishing a collaboration, are all reasonable metrics and often the first results you will see.  It may take years before a measurable contribution to the financial bottom line is realized, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and cannot successfully get there! Return on Investment is ultimately the strongest guarantor of growth and longevity of university-industry alliances and collaborations.

Ramping up

There are significant differences between relationships with universities and those with suppliers, customers, and paid consultants.  It is important that the company understands the mission of the university, the customary features of university-industry engagements and, for example, the boundary conditions on funded research. Only by understanding these factors can mutually beneficial relationships, which of course are the key to sustained success in any collaboration, be developed and maintained. Therefore, educate yourself and your team about the nuances of working with universities, not only the business and technology teams, but also those involved in contract negotiation or legal review.

Finally, take advantage of available resources.  The non-profit UIDP was launched in 2006 with a mission to enhance the value of collaborative partnerships between universities and industry. UIDP has strong participation from both universities and corporations and offers many resources to help you on your university-industry engagement journey.  Additionally, in 2023, based on member requests, UIDP launched UI-Collab, a for profit consulting subsidiary.

UI-Collab’s practice areas include University-Industry Strategy, Partnership Management, Innovation Ecosystem Assessment & Development and Contracting Expertise.  UI-Collab consultants come from a variety of backgrounds in universities, industry, and government. They have decades of experience to draw on to help facilitate university engagement programs for your organization.  UI-Collab consultants can help you structure your university engagement program so that it moves from being an expense that needs to be continually justified to an ROI-generating component of your organization.