How do researchers build successful industry relationships?
Professor Daniela Traini in her lab
Professor Daniela Traini is a respiratory researcher, with a knack for partnerships. She鈥檚 received millions of dollars in competitive grant funding and has been successful with several research grant applications. With a wealth of experience finding collaborators and fostering relationships, she shares her insights on how to effectively identify and engage research partners.
1. Expand your network
Researchers may already know potential industry partners but they might not have considered them as such on grant applications. Reframing how a researcher thinks about existing relationships is important, as is being proactive and seeking out new contacts.
鈥淕oing to conferences is a great way to get to know different organisations and develop a wider network. It also helps researchers learn to communicate more efficiently with corporations,鈥� says Professor Traini.
Meeting the right industry partner is just the beginning. Identifying who the decision maker is, the assistance they may need, and the budget they are responsible for, often takes time.听
2. Building trust
The most important consideration when involving an industry partner is building trust, which often takes twelve to eighteen months. Daniela鈥檚 best advice is: 鈥淏e open and up front. Remember, trust is with an individual, not a company name.听The trust will go wherever the person goes.鈥�
3. Be strategic
The path to identifying the right industry partner may not always be straightforward. It may start with a consultancy, then a research contract within the company, and then finally a successful grant.
Daniela says: 鈥淚dentify the problem the company is facing and what stage they are at. Think strategically about what grant application would be appropriate and how you and the company can both benefit from working together. If the problem is more engineering or device focussed, consider an . If it is more health related, then would be more appropriate.鈥�
4. Think globally
Academic career development doesn鈥檛 just happen by spending time at another university. Working for short stints within a company keeps researchers up-to-date with the industry and their needs. In 2016, Daniela spent three months in California embedding herself in a company which resulted in support on a successful grant application.听 She also partnered with a German company who supported her post-doctoral visit for three months. 听
It is important to think globally and to understand where research fits within industry. Daniela has successfully expanded her reach from pharmaceutical companies in Australia where there is less manufacturing, research and development, to companies in the USA and Europe. 听
5. Finding balance
University and industry engagement are continually evolving and historically are fundamentally different in their mandates.听 One is education and research, the other is profit driven.听 Managing industry needs and expectations as well as bureaucratic processes is key, especially with completion of contracts and agreements.听
6. Be flexible
Being flexible and embracing a company鈥檚 work style is important. 鈥淒uring my last ARC Linkage project, for 3 years we had to have teleconferences every two weeks and report monthly as per company procedures,鈥� Professor Traini says of her time working at her partner company in Germany.听
鈥淒ue to three changes in management, we couldn鈥檛 publish for 6 months. The collaborating UK and Italian companies, on the other hand, were flexible on publishing date as long as we sent the material to them first.鈥�
