10+1 rules for improving academia-industry collaboration in R&D

Why it matters: Collaboration is no longer optional for funding, impact or relevance

First, it is a public duty. Most legislation on universities and science includes knowledge valorization and transfer as a core responsibility, linking research to the advancement of knowledge and economic and social development. Collaboration with the productive sector is essential to fulfilling that mandate.

Second: Public funding priorities nearly always align with sustainable development goals. Working with industry improves the odds of delivering that impact.

Third: There is a practical incentive. Many public calls for proposals require public-private collaboration.

The reverse question also matters. Is it necessary for companies to collaborate with academia to carry out R&D? Again, the answer is yes.

From a practical standpoint, companies usually cannot afford the infrastructure and scientific personnel available at universities and research centres. I think it is very illustrative here to quote a paragraph from Vannevar Bush's famous report, 'Science, the Endless Frontier'. A Report to the President”, dated July 1945: arguing that innovation depends on a steady flow of new scientific knowledge and a workforce trained to create and apply it. Yet the reality is that often mistrust on both sides.

The problem: mutual prejudice

From business owners towards academics:

• “They have their heads in the clouds,”

• “They don't understand my language,”

• “They don't know what I need,”

• “I can't waste my money researching the sex of angels,” “what will happen to ‘my’ intellectual property?,”

• “Why would I want a PhD in my company?”

At the same time, there are also prejudices in the other direction:

• “I'm comfortable in my ivory tower, if they want me, they can come and find me,”

• “What good is collaborating with a company to me?”, “They won't let me publish,”

• “They're not interested in knowledge, just fixing screws,”

And the mutual prejudice: “They don't know/understand my language.”

But the truth is that we need each other.

Like any relationship, collaboration requires a period of “courtship,” sometimes long and complicated, occasionally love at first sight happens. It’s advisable to know and value the following rules:

1) Acknowledge differences between the two worlds and try to minimize them.

In other words, align objectives, timelines, and levels of technological maturity.

• Industry seeks value creation; academia seeks knowledge (patents vs. publications).

• Industry operates on short timelines; academia on longer ones.

• Industry typically works at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)5+; academia below TRL 5.

2) Be transparent and honest from day one

Both sides must be able to share problems, objectives, and capabilities. If we do not work this way from the beginning, shadows and small deceptions about what we expect from each other can arise throughout the future relationship, which can cause the relationship to fail forever.

3) Identify the main players and channel communication through them.

Sometimes this “courtship” drags on indefinitely because we are talking to people who have no decision-making power, which causes everything to take a long time. It is essential to know who the key person is to talk to.

4) Choose companies that have problems aligned with our potential technical solutions, our experience, and our capabilities.

The company must be clear that the experience it can find in academia is useful for finding the solutions it seeks.

5) Improve and be consistent in communication with companies.

This will help us to better understand their needs and have a clearer idea of what research we can do to give them competitive advantages. Do not lose sight of the path the company is taking. Therefore, we must know how to listen, know how to add value, adapt our offer, and learn to ask the right questions.

6) Establish strategic relationships with other complementary centers/universities, either in lines or at TRL levels. This allows us to offer joint proposals.

Sometimes, in order to land a large project, it is advisable to join forces with centers that complement us and work together to achieve that collaboration.

7) Promote, encourage, and increase placements in companies and visits by company personnel to the university or research centre, both ways

The more time we spend together, the better communication tends to be, at least because we get to know each other better. There is a Spanish saying that goes, “el roce hace el cariño” (familiarity breeds affection). In this sense, the co-supervision of doctoral theses allows important links to be established that can last for many years. And, of course, the integration of PhD graduates into the fabric of the company will help to minimize many communication problems.

8) The creation of strategic partnerships.

Ideally, in this academia-business relationship, collaboration should not be limited to a specific project. The ideal is to generate enough trust for the company to consider the research group as part of its innovation network, and for that trust to be such that problems and how to address them can be shared.

9) Share of success stories, visibly.

Any success story in this academia-business relationship should be publicized. Shared wins encourage first-time collaborators on both sides.

10) Use public funding as a bridge

Among others, public funds at all levels (regional, national, European) are available through collaborative calls for proposals, which require partnerships involving universities and companies. In these cases, the cost of research is sometimes covered almost entirely by public funds. This is a good way to get started with very little risk on the part of the company. And very lasting relationships can be established, open to other future funding possibilities.

And finally, a 10+1 recommendation:

You have to seek each other out.

As the popular saying goes, ‘to catch fish, you have to go fishing’. And remember a couple of important messages, one for companies and one for scientists. For companies, do not be suspicious of the type of ‘science’ done in a particular group. There is no such thing as basic or applied science, only good science or bad science.

And for scientists, remember that the best scientists, the most cited, the most influential, are those who are best at transferring knowledge.