Three Recommendations On How Universities Can Increase Their Research Funding From Industry Partners
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the world called on industry and academia to partner on a vaccine breakthrough. Assisted by federal funding, these life-saving vaccines would not have become a reality without remarkable and rapid collaboration between industries like AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, and Moderna with academic researchers at universities like University of Pennsylvania, University of Oxford, Vanderbilt University, and University of Texas and others. To be sure, most industry-academic partnerships do not happen in response to a global health crisis but there is a long list of success stories in industry-academic collaborations that have moved ideas out of the laboratory and into the marketplace.
The uncertainty of winning federal funds for research generates pressure on individual researchers and university administrators to demonstrate the societal benefit of their work. Academic researchers who understand the translational value of their research are better able to articulate that value to potential industry partners and elevate their chances of winning industry-funded research contracts. However, it can be a daunting task to make industry connections. The infrastructure built up around federal funding offerings simply doesn’t exist for industry R&D opportunities. Finding the ideal opportunities requires great communication of the research opportunity, focused effort, and a sleuthing mindset.
Find the internal champion - Many companies actually have university champions within their walls who will talk about the research challenges they face. TheThese same individuals will often have allegiances or even formal ties to their alma maters. Meeting these people, particularly in industries relevant to a specific scientific area, can open a relationship with a company and can often lead to a network of relationships within an industry. If researchers are able to articulate the societal value of their work to industry personnel, it can lead to a relationship that may lead to future funding.
Get out of the lab - Web searches, Linkedin, and email follow ups are all viable ways to meet industry people willing to listen to a pitch. Industry trade conferences or even scientific conferences with industry exhibitors are one of the best ways to find future industry partnerships. Face to face meetings allow each party to learn who the real person is and indicate to industry personnel that the researcher is serious enough about a relationship that they are willing to initiate the conversation. Any relationship has to be nurtured with follow up communications or even in-person visits to an industry facility. It is important to understand what a laboratory or even the university as a whole can bring to the relationship and this understanding happens through actively listening to a potential industrial partner about the pains and unmet needs they have running the R&D portion of their business.
Articulate the Value - Everyone knows that the academic scientists need money to support their research, hire students, and buy equipment. Everyone also knows that scientists love to talk about their own research. It is actually the job of the academic researcher to listen to the needs of the potential industry partner and then communicate how a relationship will benefit the company. For instance, demonstrate how industry partners can better leverage their investments, or share examples of technologies that have gone to market as a result of industry and university collaboration (https://venturewell.org/industry-partnerships/).
Astound Research is making it easier to identify the right industrial partner
Astound’s focus is on simplifying the task of finding and engaging the right research partner on both sides of the market. Our exhaustive customer discovery is driving development of smart matching features that lower the friction in this two-sided marketplace. Astound will deliver rapid discovery of R&D matches at academic institutions and a comprehensive listing of fundable industrial R&D opportunities.