IN-PART Discover – FAQs from University Teams
Discover Research Manager - IN-PART, London Office.
Below you can find answers to the questions most frequently asked by individuals at universities and research institutes engaging with IN-PART Discover via Industry Calls for Opportunities (ICOs).
1. What is the difference between Discover and our matchmaking platform?
2. How does IN-PART’s ‘technology-push’ subscription model work?
3. How does Discover, the ‘market-pull’ model, work?
4. What are companies looking for?
5. How do I submit opportunities to a Discover campaign?
6. Why am I being asked for an academic’s ORCiD ID?
7. What happens after a university submits an opportunity?
8. How are academic opportunities presented in a Discover report?
9. What happens if my submitted opportunity is of interest to the company?
10. What is the success rate for Discover submissions?
11. Will a university receive feedback on Discover submissions ‘not of interest’?
12. Why will a company undergo a Discover campaign anonymously?
1. What is the difference between IN-PART: Discover and our subscription-based matchmaking platform for universities?
We think the best way to understand the distinction between IN-PART (our matchmaking system) and IN-PART: Discover is to consider the core IN-PART subscription service as a ‘technology-push’ model and Discover as a ‘market-pull’ model.
2. How does IN-PART’s ‘technology-push’ subscription model work?
With IN-PART’s subscription service, we proactively push research with commercial potential out to our verified industry network (through intelligent matchmaking and proactive, personal alerts). These individuals have been curated to ensure they are interested and able to commercialise research or collaborate with academic teams. More than 11,000 R&D professionals from 5,000+ companies engage technology through our system via this route, and we only provide end-users with access (no public users and no service providers).
Among other benefits, universities receive introductions to new commercial partners, feedback from market-decliners, Impact Reports reviewing an array of statistics relating to interest and informing commercialisation decisions, as well as an online dashboard to collaborate with colleagues, download marketing materials, create technology portfolios and engage IN-PART: Discover through an easy to use system.
For academics interested in having their research (with commercial application) showcased on our core system, opportunities need to be submitted via their Tech Transfer Team / Commercialisation Office. Directing opportunities seeking commercial engagement through this route will enable a high level of engagement from industry.
For further information about joining 180 academic institutes who use IN-PART to connect with a global network of companies, submit a request to speak with a member of our team.
3. How does Discover, the ‘market-pull’ model, work?
We consider Discover a ‘market-pull’ model, in that it is wholly driven by the requirements of an industry partner within a particular sector. We work with companies to identify and communicate their specific requirements, capturing this information in the form of an ICO, or ‘Industry Call for Opportunities’ summary document. Following this, we proactively disseminate the ICO as a campaign to universities who can submit relevant research projects, IP, academic experts, centres of excellence, and spinouts for engagement.
Read more here.
4. What are companies looking for?
An industry client will confirm which of the following five types of opportunities they are interested in engaging:
Research projects
Academic experts
Centres of Excellence
Technologies (IP)
Spin-outs
5. How do I submit opportunities to a Discover campaign?
For Discover campaigns with an associated template for submissions, please download the template linked in the ICO campaign document and follow submission instructions.
For Discover campaigns that do not have a template for submissions, please respond by addressing specific criteria outlined in the ICO in a point-by-point manner. Your submission would ideally comprise:
- 300-500 words describing the opportunity
- Supporting or related information attached or accessible via web links (e.g. data slide, publication, business plan, technology summary document etc.)
There are two ways to submit your opportunities:
- For universities subscribed to our matchmaking platform, please use your institute’s dashboard to upload responses
- For universities and academics not yet using the platform, opportunities can be submitted via: discover.in-part.com
Please note, submissions should only contain non-confidential information, and there is no limit on the number of opportunities you can submit. For any questions please contact discover@in-part.co.uk
6. Why am I being asked for an academic’s ORCID ID?
An ORCID ID is a digital identifier that distinguishes academic researchers. ORCID is becoming the standard identifier used by academics in grant applications and in the submission of articles for journal publication. Each ORCID ID is linked to the professional activities of an academic, including successful grant applications and publication history.
To help IN-PART automate the inclusion of existing, freely accessible information about academics interested in opportunities via Discover, we ask whether this ID is available. IN-PART will use relevant information linked to an ORCID ID, alongside any bespoke submission content provided by an academic or university business team, in response to a Discover campaign.
For more information about ORCID, please visit their website: orcid.org
7. What happens after a university submits an opportunity?
After the deadline has passed for a client’s respective ICO campaign, we collate all opportunities into a report. The client undertakes a review of the report before actioning introductions to opportunities of interest. For opportunities not of interest, we aim to provide feedback about why they were not chosen.
8. How are academic opportunities presented in a Discover report?
Our team will format your submission into a single-page with our standardised design.
9. What happens if my submitted opportunity is of interest to the company?
When an industry client wishes to engage an opportunity featured in their Discover report, we immediately introduce them to the related university team.
Following this introduction, we take a hands-off approach and allow the industry client and university representative to discuss next steps. The details of any potential collaboration would be entirely negotiated between the relevant academic/university representative and the client.
Outcomes range from funding academic research to sharing existing company know-how and other resources, licensing and long-term strategic partnerships. IN-PART takes no fee for any success (our fee is paid upfront by the company client commissioning the report).
10. What is the success rate for Discover submissions?
The likelihood of an opportunity meeting the criteria for client introductions depends heavily on the relevance of the content for the specific ICO. The number of introductions we make between universities and the company, therefore, ranges, however, all corporate clients undertake a Discover report in the knowledge that this is not simply a reporting exercise, it is a service designed to introduce parties.
On average 11% of opportunities within a report have been engaged by clients, with some garnering introduction rates over 20%. It should be stated that clients have reached out to the teams at future points owing to changes in priorities.
11. Will a university receive feedback on Discover submissions ‘not of interest’?
Every institution submitting an opportunity for a Discover call will be updated on the status of their submission’s progress. For opportunities deemed not sufficiently relevant to initiate an introduction, we will always let you know as soon as possible and provide at least some form of feedback from the client.
Unfortunately, opportunity- or university-specific feedback is not always possible; this is because Discover reports regularly contain over 100 opportunities, and we consider it unreasonable to expect an industry client to curate a response for each opportunity featured.
For universities who are subscribed to IN-PART’s core system, if an opportunity is submitted for a Discover call but is not already listed on the platform, there is the opportunity to post the submission to the platform. Through this route, opportunities receive a detailed level of market feedback based on quantitative and qualitative statistics reflecting market interest.
12. Why will a company undergo a Discover campaign anonymously?
This is generally to prevent exposure of corporate/research strategy to competitors. However, we understand that this can make submitting opportunities less attractive, and generally, we encourage our industry clients to use their company name where possible.
At the point of our Discover client expressing interest, we reveal the company name and their contact details for follow-up to start a dialogue on collaboration/commercialisation.
To note, IN-PART only engages high-value clients serious about research commercialisation and collaboration with universities, so we always encourage teams to submit content even if the client wishes to remain anonymous.
Copyrights reserved unless otherwise agreed – IN-PART Publishing Ltd., 2019