Research collaboration with business and the community

The issue

Universities increase the impact of their research when they engage in research collaborations with external organisations. They also gain knowledge, enhance their reputations, earn revenue and deliver direct benefit to the economy and society.

What you can do

Build an institutional strategy

Digital technologies can help institutions promote their research expertise, find appropriate partners, manage collaborations online and share resources securely. All work with external partners needs to be managed within the context of an institution-wide strategy for engaging with business and the community.

Promote your expertise

Our guidance will help you make best use of online channels to communicate the expertise of your researchers to potential partners. The self-assessment tool will help you reflect on your current provision and identify gaps and areas for improvement.

Be open to knowledge transfer

We’ve supported the development of an open approach to knowledge transfer, which uses digital technologies to simplify processes, expand networks and match technologies to potential applications.

Invite external guidance

Open innovation, which allows an organisation to solicit external expertise to solve a problem or co-develop a solution, can result in new business opportunities and the discovery of unexpected partners.

Sharing safely

When working with external partners, you need a way of sharing online resources securely. We’ve extended federated access management to make it easy for you to allow trusted external partners to access the resources they need.

Keep it legal

Working with external partners also raises many legal issues, for example around intellectual property rights, data protection and privacy, and the use of public infrastructure by private organisations. We can help.