Industry Academia Collaboration Framework
Parasuram Balasubramanian,
Founder & CEO, Theme Work Analytics, Bangalore
& Entrepreneur in Residence at Purdue University, USA
balasubp@gmail.com
Delivered at the
2009 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management,
Chicago, IL USA on Aug 10, 2009
Research Ecosystem :
Academia Industry
Government
Funding Agency
•  Funding Agencies and
Government are
major stakeholders in
the ecosystem.
•  All stakeholders need
to be nurtured as vital
members of the
ecosystem.
The	research	ecosystem	consists	of	many	stakeholders	
with	varying	objectives
Some	fundamental	issues	arise	consistently		
due	to	goal	divergence	
Industry
Perspective
Academic
interests
•  To be at the cutting edge
•  To innovate
•  To gain competitive advantage
•  To Go to Market quickly
Performance	metrics	differ	
Industry
Perspective
Academic
interests
•  Peer recognition
•  Sustained support for graduate
students
•  Market share, penetration
•  Time to market
Scope
Definition
Management	systems	and	processes	differ	in	design	objectives	
Industry
Perspective
Academic
interests
Cost
Control
Resource
Management
open ended
with latitude
tightly defined
tightly specifiedTime
Management
flexible
mission criticalsubordinated to
goal attainment
multi tasking
shared resources
dedicated
resources
Key	issues	of	conflict	
Industry
Perspective
Academic
interests
Indemnity
Confidentiality
Project
Management
Project
Scoping
NDA
NDA : Non disclosure Agreement
MOU : Memorandum of Understanding
MRA : Master Research Agreement
SPA : Specific project Agreement
MOU SPAMRA
Framework for Collaboration
The suggested Funding Model can help match objectives of
fund sources and research organizations
Basic
Research
Grants,
Endowments
Grants,
Endowments
Industry
Associations
Go To Market Phase
succeeds the AR(S) Phase.
Applied
Research
(Generic)
Applied
Research
(Specific)
Individual
firms

Industry academia collaboration