The benefits of Industry University Partnership are:
- Fresh approach
- Questioning technical and business practices
- New ideas from research
- Technical innovation tier
Universities gain insight into real-world problems and are introduced to actual industry/government practice. Industries and/or government gain exposure to the “latest practice” –can lead to competitive edge– introduce visibility to students gateway to a range of expertise and approaches
Before you partner, the following should be consisdered:
- Industry partners should be involved as early as possible
- Partnership objectives should be clearly stated
- Access to intellectual property must be defined
- Partnerships must be flexible, to allow role changes, and participation based on competencies and commitment, not size.
Tips for unsuccessful partnering:
- Tell the university what to do
- Disagree without providing insight
- Make sure university interaction with your staff is limited and constrained
Not all partnerships work as different approaches are needed for different parts of the R&D cycle and different business efforts require different emphasis points within the team.
Solid collaborations can pay off in a variety of ways over the years. It is a “one-stop” shopping for technology and business-related R&D. The results can include prototypes, new technology, outsourcing industry/govt/ university dialogs providing information, contacts and expertise.