University-industry collaboration: A closer look for academic leaders

University-industry collaborations have expanded rapidly in recent years, reflecting a shifting landscape across higher education worldwide. As many universities face changes in government funding and shifting priorities, there is a renewed focus on partnership models that go beyond traditional boundaries. This momentum is evident not only in well-established leaders but also across a diverse range of institutions adopting more innovative and engaged approaches. Many are inspired by the growing concept of fourth-generation universities, which emphasize collaboration to promote societal benefit as well as academic excellence. Together, these forces are helping more universities and industries work toward shared goals — solving complex challenges, advancing knowledge and creating meaningful impact.

This guide explores university-industry collaboration, examining its key characteristics, the perspectives of both sectors and the factors that drive successful partnerships. Additionally, it offers practical advice on identifying and connecting with the right collaborators.

What is university-industry collaboration?

Our university is committed to excellent teaching, innovative research, and the personal and intellectual growth of its students in a diverse academic community.

Above is a mission statement from a prominent U.S. research university, Northwestern University opens in new tab/window. It is typical of most in affirming a strong commitment to the students and the academic community. The traditional focus of universities is on education and the creation of new knowledge, although recent years have brought a new emphasis on technology transfer, entrepreneurship and collaboration.

On the other hand, the primary purpose of corporations is to deliver shareholder value or, for startups, to provide returns to their investors. Success in the market is the ultimate marker of success in the business world.

Innovation is, however, critical to both sectors.

While academia and industry each bring their own perspective to innovation — with universities focusing on research-driven discovery and industry driving market-focused applications — the two approaches are closely connected. Industry relies on the foundation of academic research to fuel its advancements, making collaboration essential. Today, both sectors recognize the need to be strategic about intellectual property (IP), especially in areas where competition and economic interests are strong. Universities and companies alike are increasingly cautious about what they share publicly, shaped not only by commercial interests but also by heightened concerns around national critical technologies and geopolitics. This shift, especially noticeable in many Western countries over the past decade, has led to greater alignment between academia and industry in how they protect and manage innovation.

With different goals at play, can they truly find common ground for shared success?

While universities and industry often have distinct goals — universities tending to focus on education and research excellence and industry aiming for practical, market-driven results — these objectives are closely linked through the pursuit of innovation and societal benefits. Sometimes, these different aims may seem to lead to misalignment; however, when successfully managed, the collaboration between the two sectors becomes highly productive and rewarding for all involved, as well as beneficial to the public good.

Collaboration is thriving. The chart below shows that, according to Scopus opens in new tab/window, the global number of papers co-authored by a research institution and an industry partner is on a steady rise. These relationships are valued by institutions not only for their potential to increase competitiveness and financial health, but also for their role in driving real-world impact. Such partnerships enable both sectors to tackle cross-border challenges, spark scalable growth and address complex societal needs—outcomes that benefit from the shared strengths each partner brings.

Crucially, these collaborations work because each side brings complementary capabilities. Industry frequently identifies pressing real-world problems and provides context and resources to solve them. Universities contribute creative approaches, breakthrough research and a breadth of skills that often lead to innovative solutions. This combination enables discoveries that neither could accomplish alone, with benefits that extend far beyond each institution to society as a whole.

What are the different forms of university-industry collaboration?

Imagine two researchers — one from a biotech start-up and another from a large university medical research lab — meet at a conference. They discover they have similar research interests and share research and subsequently jointly publish papers. Serendipity can be a powerful force in driving innovations. This collaboration might start with a simple interaction, but is also one that leads to fruitful discoveries.

In contrast to taking advantage of a serendipitous opportunity, many university and industry collaborations follow a more orchestrated and formalized approach. You will often find joint appointments for faculty and industry staff, wherein they serve dual roles on campus and within the company. Researchers can also take sabbaticals to stay with their partner institution for an extended period, while students mentored by these researchers? can enter the workforce through internships.

Now, examine the idea of a much broader engagement between a university and an industry partner. This collaboration is often a strategic partnership with the most senior levels in university leadership taking part. An example of this is the relationship between the University of Cincinnati and Procter & Gamble.

Dr. Philip Taylor opens in new tab/window, former Assistant Vice President, Office of Research at the University of Cincinnati and current President of Philip H Taylor, Environmental Consulting, shares his unique perspective from both the industry and university sectors. He sees the advantage of these agreements as bringing large-scale? problems to the university, which has the infrastructure, the architecture, and the right person(s) to work on it. And, for the university, the agreement brings substantial industry funding.

There are examples of these collaborations around the globe.

According to Dr. Luigi Occhipinti opens in new tab/window, Director of Research at the University of Cambridge, he often sees collaborations in the engineering department that start small and grow. He cites Dyson as an excellent example. In 2016, Cambridge and Dyson jointly opened the Dyson Centre for Engineering Design opens in new tab/window.

There are also examples from the industry perspective, such as the BMW Group's opens in new tab/window approach to strategic partnerships with universities and research institutions. BMW has developed significant collaborations that focus on innovation and talent development. In a webinar titled, “Unveiling impact pathways through cross-sector collaboration and innovation opens in new tab/window,” Philipp Janello, the Academic Relations & Innovation Politics lead for the BMW Group, explains,

“When we think about impact in collaborations, it goes beyond transferring scientific findings to actual product advancements. It’s also about tapping into academia’s objectivity and talent for innovation. This is critical, especially as technology evolves exponentially while organizational learning progresses more linearly.”

The role government plays in university-industry collaboration.

Often, these types of organization play a role in stimulating collaboration. Their involvement has generally been increasing but can vary significantly by country. Three-way partnerships between Industry-Government-University are sometimes called Triple Helix opens in new tab/window.

In "Why two heads are better than one: the power of university-industry collaborations opens in new tab/window," an episode of the Research 2030 podcast, Dr. Tony Boccanfuso opens in new tab/window, President of UIDP opens in new tab/window (University-Industry Demonstration Partnership), noted that, in the United States, the government's role has been relatively hands-off, but that trend is changing globally.

Listen in his own words. opens in new tab/window

Listen to our podcast opens in new tab/window

According to Dr. Occhipinti one example of a public funding agency is the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) opens in new tab/window in the U.K., supporting the Centers for Doctoral Training programs for university PhD students, often also supported by industry partners.

A Chinese director of medical research described a broad, multi-year agreement between a pharmaceutical company, a university and the Chinese Academy of Sciences as an example of a helix arrangement.

While the Triple Helix model—bringing together industry, government and universities — is common in many regions worldwide, it is less prevalent in the United States, though it is gaining momentum. In the US, direct ties between universities and industry remain the primary approach, especially in the IT and engineering sectors, where venture capital and regional hubs play a crucial role.

An intriguing example of a successful government program to encourage these collaborations in the US is the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer opens in new tab/window. According to their website opens in new tab/window,

The Alliance model for translational research is that discoveries made in academic laboratories are handed off to for-profit partners for efficient development into research and clinical products. Alliance members have been eager to bring their technology to the clinic, forming over 100 start-up companies and partnerships with existing biotechnology firms. Many of these start-ups are thriving and now offer products, research, or consulting services to the academic and clinical communities. Others have attracted significant investment from large pharmaceutical companies and venture capital funds.

Why would universities and industries collaborate?

The executive summary of the United Kingdom’s review of university-industry collaboration, “The Dowling Review of Business-University Research Collaborations” states:

Strategic business-university research collaborations provide a myriad of benefits to their participants. For academics, these benefits can include the opportunity to address challenging research questions with real-world applications, see their research have tangible impacts and gain access to new skills, data or equipment. Companies can improve business performance through developing new techniques or technologies, de-risk investment in research, and extend the capabilities and expertise available to the firm.

According to the "Researcher Guidebook: A Guide for Successful Institutional-Industrial Collaborations" published by UIDP opens in new tab/window,

Both institutions and industries have much to gain from these collaborations since they promote the discovery of new synergies and models that promise mutual potential for ROI. For companies, partnering with institutions provides access to expertise and research that spurs innovation, extends their resources, and sharpens their competitive advantage. For non-profit institutions facing tightening federal budgets—which have created funding gaps in even the top laboratories, collaborations with industry offer promising revenue streams, effective ways to keep abreast of changing market and industry dynamics, and increased competitiveness in pursuing federal funding opportunities.

We asked global research leaders why they value collaborating with industry. Their top five answers:

1. Better potential for societal impact

2. Better student opportunities and outcomes

3. Increased funding

4. Economic development potential

5. Utilize government programs for funding

Watch a video and read more below.

What factors contribute to successful collaborations?

Unfortunately for departments seeking direction, this is a simple question without an easy answer, although Dr. Lesley Thompson opens in new tab/window, Vice President at Elsevier and former Programme Director at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the largest of the seven U.K. research councils, sums it up nicely:

You're in it for the long term, and you are generous in your relationship.

At the beginning of this guide, we acknowledged the different missions and agendas of both higher education institutions and the private sector. Dr. Thompson suggests that the most successful collaborations often begin small. This is an important point. Most benefits of these collaborations develop over years, not months. Productivity might decrease before it improves and then remains high for a long time. However, if both sides see the potential for a long-term partnership and share and communicate broadly, then the likelihood of success is greater.

Another critical aspect of successful collaborations is previous experience with a partner or a shared research agenda.

How can a university find an industry partner?

According to industry leaders, the two most important aspects they look for when starting a new project are a university partner:

1. With a shared history of successful collaborations

2. Working in the same research areas with a similar research agenda

Significant collaborations with broad agreements, like AstraZeneca and Oxford University opens in new tab/window, are well known. However, there are often smaller, less visible collaborations between researchers. When a university's Office of Research knows about these collaborations, they can nurture and expand them.

Likewise, suppose you know which companies are researching the same areas as you. In that case, you can try to align some projects and begin a new collaboration strategically.

How to find potential partners that meet one or both of these requirements? The key is data. One piece of data to evaluate and help you solve this puzzle is publication data. You can determine which industry partners you share co-authored papers with. Or, you can assess the papers from potential corporations to see which areas they are publishing in.

Here is a list of companies which a US research university has co-authored papers with.

In this example, the Engineering Department of the university wants to expand its corporate partnerships. This department has done a little bit with Caterpillar, Inc. Currently, they have seven researchers and four co-authored papers. Since this particular university is in the same region as Caterpillar, it is an exciting company to explore in more depth.

Identify Potential Industry Partners with SciVal

There are other examples of investigating co-authored papers to better understand your current collaborations and to determine potential new partners.

How does collaborating with industry affect citation impact?

Google opens in new tab/window the question, "What is the most impactful paper of the 21^st century," and the first result is "The most cited articles of the 21^st century." The academic way of measuring impact is by publishing your research and seeing how many other articles cite that research: the more cites, the more impact.

Academic researchers often believe that papers co-authored with a corporate partner are cited less than ones written with academic partners.

To determine whether this is true, we examined different types of co-authored collaborations. We analyzed the citation impact around the globe using a field-weighted citation impact metric opens in new tab/window.

As you can see, for every region, the research they published with an industry co-author (blue bar) had a higher citation impact.

The urban myth of less respect for collaborating with industry is busted. Researchers should feel empowered to pursue this for all its advantages.

Correct answers: Which of the following is true regarding academic-industry collaborations?