Both the industry and academia are keen to derive synergy from their relationship; in particular in research partnership. Yet many a time they fall short in what can be achieved. We present a collaboration framework that can enhance the effectiveness.

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. Performance metrics differ
Industry
Perspective
Academic
interests
• Peer recognition
• Sustained support for graduate
students
• Market share, penetration
• Time to market

5. 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

6. Key issues of conflict
Industry
Perspective
Academic
interests
Indemnity
Confidentiality
Project
Management
Project
Scoping

7. NDA
NDA : Non disclosure Agreement
MOU : Memorandum of Understanding
MRA : Master Research Agreement
SPA : Specific project Agreement
MOU SPAMRA
Framework for Collaboration

8. 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