Best practices for collaborating with universities: what do industry teams need to know?

IN-PART’s Discover platform proactively engages an international community of academic researchers to find real solutions to the R&D challenges of industry. Last year was record-breaking for Discover, with more campaigns run than ever before, engaging with thousands of academic institutes to surface new assets and breakthroughs for companies proactive in the search for external innovation. On average, for each Discover campaign we ran in 2022 15% of the academic submissions led to a new conversation starting between a company and the academic team. These conversations are the starting point for potential partners to discuss how best to collaborate on getting science out of the lab and onto the market. 

Collaborating with a new academic partner is an exciting, optimistic time but there are many aspects to consider before starting the first conversation. In order to help you maximise the impact of the connections made through Discover, we’ve curated this blog which outlines the essential best practices for collaborating with universities,  how to approach the research collaboration journey, and key points to address during partnering discussions.

What to expect when starting a new conversation with potential academic collaborators  

R&D/external innovation teams from and academic researchers use Discover with a variety of collaboration outcomes in mind. These range from project funding and licensing of technologies or assets, to consultancy and access to facilities or equipment. 

There’s no single approach that’s right for all collaborations. The first conversation with a potential academic partner  is an opportunity to understand how the teams at the two organisations can best work together.

Through a Discover campaign, the IN-PART team ensures that both parties in a collaboration have similar ambitions in mind by matching company R&D needs with the most relevant academic research. Whether you work in industry or academia , it’s a good idea to outline upfront what you’re hoping to achieve through a potential collaboration, as well as highlighting what you’d bring to the table.

Discover clients (who include AstraZeneca, Bayer, PepsiCo and Takeda) come to us with a problem to solve, actively seeking to make connections with academic assets and researchers who can provide a solution. Through our platform, we find researchers and potential academic partners who are highly relevant to our clients interests, and facilitate the initial introduction for  a conversation to start around routes to collaboration. IN-PART doesn’t take a seat at the discussion table, or take a financial stake in the resulting partnerships to give you the freedom to make decisions about how to progress your collaboration.

We only introduce our clients to academic teams who have told us they’re ready to interact with potential industry partners. This approach means that both Discover clients and researchers can go into collaboration conversations with confidence that both parties are engaged.

We typically advise starting with an initial, non-confidential discussion to explore how your interests align, and how you might work together to solve a common goal. However, if an NDA/CDA is required, we suggest letting the other party know up front so this can be drawn up as soon as possible.

Our next steps start with learning more about the degree of overlap between our interests and the contact. We also explore preferred ways of interaction and, so far, have not encountered any challenges with furthering a relationship. We anticipate maintaining consulting relationships in both areas and hope to execute collaborative research projects. Such projects may investigate a critical technical uncertainty or perceived barrier to commercialization.” – Technologist at an American materials science company. Read more in the company’s case study.

What do industry-academia partnerships  look like?

A collaboration can take many forms, each with different requirements and timelines. See below some typical examples and key points to consider.

• Funded research projects
  • Projects could be based on negotiating upfront costs (e.g. technology access fees or exclusivity fees, scalable based on stage of technology or asset) or longer-term research and development support (either budget defined of FTE defined).
  • Consider research and development milestones (scalable based on the stage of the research or technology at signing, and the division of work and risk contribution).
• Co-development and validation of research discoveries
• Strategic partnerships and long-term collaborations
• Secondments (industry to academia and vice versa)
• In/out-licencing
  • Define IP rights and responsibilities for research and/or commercial purposes
  • Exclusivity terms
• Consultancy
  • One off or longer-term consultancy
• Support or funding to form a spin-out company
• Negotiated access to specialist equipment or materials
• Acquisition and merger
• Formation or support of a steering group or committee

We cannot wait to see where these projects will lead and the difference they will make.” – Read more in our case study from Kidney Research UK.

Best practices for starting a partnering conversation with universities

From our work initiating over 14,000+ new conversations between industry and academia since our first platform, Connect, launched in 2014, we’ve seen some of the most common mistakes and misunderstandings that can happen during the initial conversations. Being aware of these to navigate can help get your new potential collaboration off to the best start.

• Differences in expectations. It’s important to clarify early on what the priorities and expected outcomes of a collaboration are for both parties. Are you looking to work towards patentable IP or publications? Making sure everyone is on the same page is the best way to ensure everyone gets the most from the partnership.  
• Unclear timelines. Conversations to establish a collaboration can be anywhere on the scale from weeks to months, and might not be continuous. It’s important for both parties to not only be patient, but also clear and upfront with how long things might take. Knowing who will need to sign off on any decisions and the timeframes that can take can give your potential partner confidence in the process. During partnering discussions it’s possible for a company’s priorities to change. It’s important to understand that a “not now” doesn’t mean “never”. 
• Slow communication. While being patient is key, it is also necessary to keep all parties up to date with possible delays or breaks in communication. Lack of communication and overly delayed replies could lead to missing out on a partnership. 
• Difference in working culture. It’s a good idea to define and properly assign roles for tasks that might need to be undertaken in a collaboration — do you require regular, in-depth reports on the progress of a project? Making that clear to everyone early on can help prevent any hiccups at the start of the partnership.  

Best practices for collaborating with universities

To round off the article, we’ve compiled our top tips and best practices to consider when collaborating with a university, to help make those early conversations as productive as possible for everyone involved.

Key considerations:

• Be open to collaboration options. A funded research project isn’t the only way for a partnership to go; consultancy, or licensing of IP may be the best way forward. Explore the best options through open and honest discussion.
• Define your ambitions. We’re often asked by academic teams what our industry clients are looking for from a partner. It’s helpful to establish your ambitions and expectations, as well as what you will bring to the project, early in the conversation. 
• Intellectual Property strategy. IP and publications rights often form a key part of collaboration conversations. It’s a good idea to outline your organisation’s requirements and approach and prepare to form an agreement with a potential collaborating partner. Ensure the relevant decision makers (for example technology transfer office members) are informed and involved as appropriate.
• Know your audience. Potential partners are likely to have a good scientific understanding of your R&D priorities, so detailed or technical information can be provided if appropriate. However it’s good practice to be prepared for lay discussion too if the technology transfer office is involved.
• Acknowledge knowledge gaps. Identify areas that are unknowns, and how you and potential collaborators might address them.
• People are key. Make sure you are including all the relevant and appropriate people in discussions – and remember this may evolve as the conversations progress. Involve or consult people in your team who have experience in this area, and could be key contributors.
• Prepare for your initial meeting. Set out a clear agenda. Consider sharing or asking for important documents in advance. As part of the Discover process, IN-PART can ask that key documentation is included in submissions, or ask that it is shared with clients during or prior to an introduction. This tailored approach helps to ensure both sides are well prepared for any collaboration conversations.
• Do your homework: know who the other attendees will be, their background and expertise, and their organisation goals. Consider how to introduce the key individuals in the meeting, highlighting expertise from both sides in context of the potential project or collaboration

I am very excited about this situation which the Discover team has brought to us. Thanks to Discover, we have started conversations with Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of California San Diego. We are about to enter into a CDA with the University of Southern California and are waiting for a draft CDA from Vanderbilt University.” – Read more in this case study from R&D-intensive pharmaceutical company.

We hope this blog helps answer some of the questions you might have before starting a collaboration conversation. The main take-aways are; be open to the different forms a collaboration may take, be clear and timely with communication, and be open with your expectations. We hope this advice will support both academic and industry partners to confidently approach those initial partnering conversations.

Join our free partnering network alongside R&D teams in over 6,000 companies searching for new partnering opportunities. 

And if you’re interested in learning more about how our Discover platform can help your company source new innovation, send a message to  nicholas.spirit@in-part.co.uk.

Written by Mat Hollingworth and Bridie Dutton. Edited by Frances Wilkinson and Alex Stockham.

Copyrights reserved unless otherwise agreed – IN-PART Publishing Ltd., 2023: ‘Best practices for collaborating with universities: what do industry teams need to know?’

About IN-PART:

We believe brilliant connections can solve real-world problems. We match research pioneers from academia with decision-makers in industry sectors striving for a greater positive impact.

Our goal is to enable connections from around the world to match academic research with industry on a level playing field. Through our intelligent, matchmaking platform we showcase leading university innovations and connect academics with an international community of decision-makers in industry, creating meaningful dialogue and partnership.

Connect, a digital partnering platform for university-industry collaboration.

250+ universities and research institutes around the world currently showcase their research and innovation on IN-PART to find new collaboration partners in industry. R&D teams get free access to the platform (create an account here). There are no hidden costs and we don’t claim downstream success fees.

Discover, a bespoke scouting platform for open innovation.

With the aim of solving a technical requirement or challenge, Discover enables R&D teams to identify new opportunities for commercialisation or to solicit proposals for new research from our extended academic network, which has confirmed touchpoints in 2,400+ universities and institutes worldwide.

Image credits: Lincoln / Unsplash License