Discover

A bespoke scouting platform managed by in-house STEM experts, that provides leading industry teams with unique access to the global academic ecosystem.

The platform to discover

Companies

Proactively engage an international community of researchers and commercialisation teams in 2,400+ institutes to find curated solutions to R&D challenges and requirements. Identify opportunities that aren’t available anywhere else.

Universities

Submit research and technology in response to requirements from leading industry teams, and enhance your reputation as an institute committed to industry partnerships and research commercialisation.

Academics

Generate impact and access a new stream of industry funding. Share your research and expertise and submit proposals in response to industrial requirements and challenges.

We help companies, universities and academics create impact

Active Discover campaigns

Cenovus Energy is seeking novel technologies to determine the content of heavy oil streams.

Cenovus Energy is seeking novel, cost‑effective methods for the treatment of sulfate‑reducing bacteria (SRB) in...

STADA Thornton & Ross is seeking opportunities that help prevent and treat common skin conditions such as eczema,...

Testimonials

What our customers say

"Discover provides us with a convenient, centralised stream of funding and collaboration opportunities, helping our team showcase our institute’s excellent research and expertise. Discover has brought his companies we would have been unlikely to engage with otherwise, and in the past six months, we have had several successes, including direct funding for research from a large pharmaceutical company."

"IN-PART showed us that we don’t know our network as well as we thought we did! The professional and responsive team are a joy to work with and we would be happy to use them again."

"Thanks to IN-PART we started conversations with Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of California San Diego, our company is about to enter into a CDA with the University of Southern California, and are waiting for a draft CDA from Vanderbilt University, as well. I am very excited about the situation which the Discover team has brought to us."

Information

Frequently asked questions

Discover is a bespoke scouting service used by teams in industry to profile the global landscape of academia across an active network of 1,400 institutes, either through ‘Industry Calls for Opportunities’ or ‘Request for Proposal’ campaigns that find and confirm potential solutions to specific R&D challenges or requirements. 

In response to a company’s external research interests and partnering requirements, the in-house STEM experts in our Discover team seek out and invite technology transfer offices and academics to submit relevant opportunities and new proposals.

We provide industry clients with an interactive report that contains all submissions received through their campaign. If a submission is assessed to be relevant for further evaluation, our team make an introduction between the institute and company to start a conversation around routes to collaboration. 

We identify five types of opportunities from universities and academics through Discover:
  • Technologies
  • Research projects and proposals
  • Academic expertise profiles
  • Centre of excellence
  • Spin-out companies
Not every campaign is identical or will be searching for all of these types of submissions. Some companies will be looking to accept only specific opportunities that match their focus and capacities. Information regarding which types of submission are accepted can be found on each campaign page (active campaigns can be viewed here).

Discover provides an extended global reach for industry innovation and R&D teams looking to gain a competitive edge. It engages TTOs and researchers at over 1,400 institutes with research and partnering requirements, enabling industry teams to unearth undisclosed opportunities, unpublished research and bespoke proposals not available anywhere else.

In short, Discover provides a ‘market pull’ for innovation from academia, working as an extension of an industry team to find the most relevant new partners from the global web of science. Where our Connect platform provides a ‘technology push’ for academic institutes, primarily for early-stage research and technologies, the in-house STEM experts in our Discover team proactively identify available research at all stages of development, as well as academic expertise, centres of excellence and spin-outs (depending on search requirements).

Since we launched our matchmaking platform Connect in 2014, we’ve initiated over 10,000 new conversations between individuals in academia and industry, with 75% of these being international. More recently, through Discover, we’ve made available over £26-million in industry funding for new academic research. 

We don’t define what outcomes should lead from an introduction made through our platforms. As a result, the range of partnerships is wide-ranging and what we see on a regular basis include:

  • Licensing of intellectual property
  • Co-development of research – validation, screening, testing, up-scaling
  • Strategic partnerships and long-term collaborations
  • Grant funding applications for joint research projects
  • Funding for new research to address an industrial requirement or challenge
  • Secondments (industry to academia and vice versa)
  • Sponsored projects, MSc, PhD or Post Docs
  • Materials Transfer Agreements (MTA)
  • Consultancy

After an introduction has been initiated through one of our platforms, our team will follow up to confirm that contact has been made. After that, we play no further involvement in the conversation. It’s simpler that way. Our role is to make relevant connections as the starting point to help drive research forward. 

Outcomes are discussed exclusively between the company, researchers and institute. We don’t take any stake in the resulting partnerships. There are no hidden costs or downstream success fees, and all information submitted through our platforms is stored securely, confidentially and in accordance with GDPR.