Research collaborations between industry and academia are becoming more common. For example, a study published in the journal Nature found that of the 480 submissions from universities to pharmaceutical companies for drug discovery research, only 15% of those submissions were accepted.
This shows how valuable it is to collaborate with different industries when doing research. In this blog post we will discuss 7 ways a research collaboration can be enhanced:
1) The opportunity for new ideas or creativity to emerge from cross-disciplinary conversations.
2) Increased access to expertise or equipment not available within an individual institution.
3) Reduced duplication of effort across institutions.
4) Greater capacity for innovation and risk taking by individuals.
5) Enhanced communication about what’s happening in other disciplines so that new connections can be made Methods for increasing collaboration.
Sharing resources, equipment and expertise between different institutions. For example, a company may have an unused MRI scanner that could be donated to an academic institution or research group -Building networks – these provide opportunities for new collaborations by bringing together individuals from multiple disciplines in order to create diverse teams with complementary skills sets (these can be formal through sponsored conferences).
Coordinating activities across the university including faculty hiring decisions; course development; lab space allocation; funding applications etc. This is because it helps ensure cross disciplinary interests are taken into account during decision making processes of institutional policies which will lead to higher quality research outcomes in the long run To learn more about how you can enhance your research collaborates.
