keynote presentation delivered on 14 June 2022 for the FSB's West Yorkshire Academia Network, exploring the reasons for, impact of, and ways to prevent, collaborations between universities and businesses/industry breaking down...
when university partnerships break down - FSB academia network
1. What happens when the
relationship between a university
and a business doesn't work?
https://linktr.ee/adrianashton
2. Why me and why this ‘dour’ question?
• Supported University start-up
bootcamps, and ‘spin-outs’
• Co-designed enterprise modules within
existing curricula, and new degree on
social innovation
• Created new governance models for
future universities
• Provider through Growth Hubs
• Support University Business Schools
with industry programmes and projects
• Failure happens
• “We can learn a lot from it”
vs.
• “It represents wasted time
and money”
3. Signs of things going off-piste…
• Taking longer to get results
anticipated
• Lines of communication appear to
break down
• Issues of IP ownership / control
= Becoming distractions that’s
adding to the business in additional
costs / missed market opportunities
4. The risk of ‘mis-alignment’ from the outset (1)
*(the speed of light isn’t always what we think it is)
5. The risk of ‘mis-alignment’ from the outset (2)
Speed of decision making and contrasting bureaucracy
Different starting points and ‘win states’ for both sides = importance of clear planning from outset and clarity on expectations and realities of other
Sometimes helps to have a Switzerland to facilitate/mediate
Risks to future relationships and brand image for both sides from wider fall out…
Just because the experience didn’t work out, Universities have other parts with whom the experience could be very different… importance of post-mortems for both sides