Evaluating Industry/University Research Linkages

OVERVIEW:Joint industry-university research activity is an increasingly common form of conducting both basic and applied research. However, successfully selecting partners and designing structures for mutually productive relationships takes considerably more care than is the case with intra-industry linkages. Interviews with industry R&D managers and bench scientists, as well as an extensive literature search, led to insights about how successful relationships are established. Key questions, that parties on both sides should ask of each other (and themselves) provide checklists of issues to identify and resolve before extensive commitments are made.