The following is a list of the articles that appear in the November 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 11, November 2022

• Universities grow programs for up-skilling and re-skilling industry partners’ employees. A number of universities have long-standing programs for employees of industry partners that enable them to enhance their skill sets and their career prospects, ranging from certificate programs to advanced degrees. More recently, however, with the advent of technological advances that threaten to leave many employees behind, combined with the prospects of severe talent shortages as far as the eye can see, industry has been requiring even more programs for employees whose skill sets no longer match the job requirements of the future — and universities have been responding.
• UWM puts its spin on industry-friendly research agreement model. There is always heated competition for the finite amount of research dollars available from industry, but when one of your major ‘rivals’ is a sister institution, and when state funding support is reduced dramatically, it behooves you to think outside the box — which is precisely what the UWM (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) Research Foundation, Inc., has done in creating its “Panther Partnering” research agreement.
• Consultants streamline ISU’s partnering by harnessing data and busting siloes. With the 2021 arrival of President Terri Goss Kinzy and her background in biochemistry and education, as well as the fast-approaching launch of its new dedicated engineering school, Illinois State University found itself uniquely positioned to expand its corporate engagement efforts.
• WSU creates new contracts to broaden offerings for industry partners. In 2018 Washington State University began offering two new contract agreements to its industry partners after determining that the options in place were not adequately addressing all of their potential needs, according to Brian Kraft, assistant vice president in WSU’s Innovation and Research Engagement Office.
• Marquette expands century-long Kohler partnership with student innovation challenge. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but several groups of entrepreneurial Marquette students would beg to differ. These students are the latest cohort to submit their ideas for the M-Prize Challenge, an event produced by the university and international manufacturing giant Kohler, its corporate partner of 100 years.

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the October 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 10, October 2022

• Are industry engagement execs missing the boat when it comes to athletics? University athletics sponsorships are big money. How big? Well, according to Statista, a German company specializing in market and consumer data, college sports sponsorship spending hit about $1.25 billion in 2017-18, the most recent years for which it has data. Given the fact that Statistica’s data showed a steady annual increase from 2005-2018, the current number is likely much higher.
• ASU reworks engineering schools to mirror industry, open student career paths. It has become commonplace at large research universities to find dedicated colleges with concentrations and graduate degrees in targeted subsectors of science and research. Such colleges, and in some cases their departments, have often become their own centers of industry collaboration, with major companies actively seeking faculty and students with the expertise needed to help them solve major problems. Arizona State University has taken that targeted approach to another level.
• UChicago, AbbVie relaunch research symposium in show of partnership strength. After a brief hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, on August 19th the University of Chicago and pharmaceutical giant AbbVie, Inc. revived an annual showcase highlighting the most exciting innovations coming out of the two parties’ ongoing partnership. The singular focus on AbbVie recognizes the importance of their alliance, and for the university serves as an excellent way to steward the relationship into the future.
• Lehigh partnership links student interns with early-stage start-ups. Lehigh University and the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center have just celebrated the fifth anniversary of a partnership that gives students “scaffolded” internship experiences with early-stage start-ups. To date, 1,000 students across 65 majors have participated in the program, whose main goal is “advancing the entrepreneurial mindset of students in any discipline” through programs, classes, and mentorship.
• Network of universities seeks to expand the role of industry advisory boards. Armed with an infusion of $662,000 from the Kern Family Foundation, seven universities (University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Boston College, Drexel University, Rowan University, University of St. Thomas, University of North Alabama, and Clarkson University) will be collaborating over the next three years “to help advisory boards move from a traditional advisory role to an active partnership in engineering education.”

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the September 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 9, September 2022

• In midst of high turnover, metrics and clear procedures for continuity help stay the course. With the advent of the ‘Great Resignation’ — from which, of course, industry partnership offices are not immune — corporate engagement leaders are more focused than ever on what it takes to get members of their teams on board and committed to a common set of goals. And, when individuals do leave, there is the added challenge of ensuring a smooth transition and the security of proprietary information.
• UCSF’s industry-based PhD program offers new model, draws some criticism. It is not unusual at all for students in life science PhD programs to participate in “experiential learning” with industry partners. However, a new program just unveiled by UCSF will go a step farther — participating students may spend the majority of their time at biotech startup Altos Labs.
• New NSF directorate seeks to do “more” by focusing on translational research. The NSF has long been known as an organization that helps promote partnerships between academia and industry through a wide range of programs, funding, and services. With the establishment of the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), the agency seeks to expand upon the success it has achieved.
• UMass Amherst co-locates companies for access to research and student talent. Through its most recent partnership with Boston-based PepGen, UMass Amherst has zeroed in on Boston’s thriving life sciences industry, opening the door for its students to explore cutting-edge developments in biotechnology and develop invaluable connections within the industry.
• Midwest institutions flock to new network supporting semiconductor industry. It was just this spring that Intel announced it was going to invest $20 billion in plants near Columbus, OH, to draw on local student talent from major universities and community colleges. But this was just the start of wider engagement throughout the region.
• Johns Hopkins provides template for partnering through university start-ups. A recent collaboration between Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures (JHTV) and Microsoft demonstrates a path forward for universities in seeking partnerships through industry involvement in campus start-ups.

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the August 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 8, August 2022

• Industry engagement leaders share keys to expanding partnerships into philanthropy. In university-industry partnerships, philanthropy has the potential to be among the most lucrative avenues of collaboration — but how do you get there? If you have a partner that is already engaged, say, in research, or talent acquisition, who makes the first move?
• LSU reorg helps pave the way for record corporate gift. LSU and Shell USA, Inc. have been partners for years — in fact, the relationship goes back as far as 1915, according to Paige Carter, executive director of industry engagement, who says the two entities “have been in lockstep.” She adds the following: “I’d say that in the last 40 or so years we’ve received in both philanthropic and research funding somewhere north of $60 million.”
• U Waterloo plans internal diversity strategy to foster more inclusive partnering. University corporate engagement offices have increasingly been seen partnering with industry in programs to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace, but it’s much rarer to learn of a research/commercialization office seeking to do the same for its own internal stakeholders.
• In bid for fintech industry ties, Kennesaw State trains both students and faculty. The goal was clear, but ambitious: for Kennesaw State University to establish itself at the forefront of innovation in digital payments — a critical element in the growing field of fintech. Four years into the effort, KSU recently made an important statement, co-sponsoring a virtual conference, “Investing in Tomorrow: Bridging the Digital Payments Talent Gap,” with the Georgia Fintech Academy, a collaboration between Georgia’s fintech industry and the University System of Georgia.
• Economic development and industry engagement linked in new position at UNC. The new title is “Director of Economic Development and Innovation Hubs for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.” According to the news release announcing the appointment, this person “will lead the implementation of UNC-Chapel Hill’s economic development strategy centered around innovation, talent, and place by engaging with university and community partners, including corporate, non-profit and government leaders. . . [and] will also lead the innovation hub and innovation district initiative, which will provide innovation spaces to a community of entrepreneurs and industry leaders in the heart of Chapel Hill.” This latter responsibility will be part of the individual’s role as a senior leader of Innovate Carolina, “the university’s central team for innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development.”

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the July 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 7, July 2022

• To build industry engagement, faculty relations should be front and center. There’s little doubt that faculty members are among of the most critical elements of creating successful U-I partnerships. So, how do corporate relations managers develop strong relationships with these key internal stakeholders, and how do they continue to strengthen them over the years? Leaders agree that effective communications — highlighted by continuous outreach and understanding of faculty challenges — are critical.
• UCSD internship program blazes a different trail using teams of students. The traditional vision of a student-industry internship program involves a single student engaged by a corporation for a defined period of time, after which further engagement may or may not continue. But the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California San Diego has broken that mold with its Team Internship Program.
• Ambrose looks to industry in developing strategic plan for engagement. Building on her experience at previous universities, Amy Novak, EdD, president of St. Ambrose University, was the driving force behind “St. Ambrose University Innovation Summit: Building the Next-Generation Workforce,” at which about 120 representatives from the corporate world gave the university feedback it will use as the foundation for its strategic plan to work with industry and build a future workforce that meets its needs.
• U Nevada-Reno attracts companies with co-location, “speed of business” mentality. Co-location comes in many forms, and the University of Nevada Reno’s Nevada Center for Applied Research (NCAR) has used them all to attract companies that are currently based on campus. In fact, says Carlos Cardillo, executive director of corporate partnerships, he estimates that two companies a month are being incorporated into NCAR, and they are currently in negotiations with four more.
• Ole Miss seeks to cover all the ‘BASES’ with new collaboration program. The development of a new program by the University of Mississippi’s School of Business Administration to help students learn about sales, supply chain and analytics through collaboration with industry partners marked its first formal milestone last February with the inaugural BASE Summit.
• Soybean center, industry advisory council engage business partners at ISU. While Iowa State, like many research universities, has a strong and vibrant corporate relations department, faculty and business representatives involved in soybean research and development have another, very targeted means of collaboration through the Iowa Soybean Research Center and its Industry Advisory Council.

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the June 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 6, June 2022

• In talent development offerings, seek industry input early and often. “Knowing the customer” is never more important, say industry engagement executives, than when you’re seeking to enhance your talent pipeline. Whether it be in the structuring of internship or co-op programs, enhancing curriculum, or planning special events, industry input is always front of mind and at the foundation of best practices.
• Penn State, IBM take partnership to next level with talent pipeline deal. A long-standing partnership between Penn State University and IBM is expanding in a big way, with the announcement of IBM’s new Data Engineering Center of Excellence, which will be based in the university’s Innovation Park. The center will hire as many as 20 students a year as interns with IBM Consulting and work directly on client projects.
• A company’s scandal can also put pressure on its university partner. Bad press, unfortunately, is part of business — but there’s bad press, and then there’s bad And when public scandal befalls a corporation, their university partners are not immune from the fallout.
• PIVOT Center initiates ‘Greenhouses’ model to marry research with industry needs. The University of Utah’s PIVOT Center has launched a new initiative involving what they call “Greenhouses” — ‘controlled environments’ that allow for seeding and growth of research ideas that address specific industry market requirements.
• Institute offering “first date” funds for new applied research projects. The Brock-Niagara Validating, Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute (VPMI), in St. Catharines, ON, Canada, has launched an initiative through which Brock researchers and their industry partners can apply for up to $20,000 in funding per year for an applied research project, with the partner contributing a minimum of $5,000 for the project per year. The concept is to give companies an easy entry point with the school, while matching their needs with VPMI’s faculty expertise.
• New consortium proposes “site-centric” approach in industry-sponsored trials. Many of the consortiums that have sprung up recently are focused on bringing together key players in specific “hot” areas of research with significant industry involvement. But a new consortium just unveiled by Advarra, a Columbia, MD-based provider of integrated IRB, IBC, DMC and EAC review services, has a much broader agenda: It “aims to seamlessly connect site and sponsor technology, addressing key inefficiencies currently experienced across the clinical research ecosystem.”

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the May 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 5, May 2022

• Inking a co-location deal is just the beginning: Now it’s time to keep promises. Convincing a key industry partner to locate on campus is a big deal — but then what? How will you prepare to welcome your partner into the campus community? What are the keys to optimizing the benefits of co-location, and developing an even deeper partnership going forward?
• UCSD-Thermo Fisher partnership rewrites definition of holistic. The recently announced 10-year partnership between the University of California-San Diego and Thermo Fisher Scientific is nothing if not ambitious. Its vision essentially rewrites the definition of “holistic,” with several specific and interrelated “pillars” comprising the deal.
• K-State boosts talent pipeline as students mine data for partners. Kansas State University’s talent pipeline has benefitted significantly through the development of a “ready to contribute workforce” of students at all levels who are available for data mining projects for industry partners.
• Sponsored research only ‘one-third of the equation’ in JHU-Amazon AI initiative. It certainly sounds like a U-I research partnership. Called the JHU + Amazon Initiative for Interactive AI, it will be housed in the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering and be designed to “leverage the university’s world-class expertise in interactive AI to advance groundbreaking technologies in machine learning.”
• Reverse pitch event proves big success for BIO Alabama. RALLY, a reverse-pitch event held late last month in Mountain Brook, AL, drew positive reviews from both research institutions and industry partners, according to Rachel Lane, PhD, the CEO of BIO Alabama. RALLY was a partnership between BIO Alabama and the Alabama Department of Commerce.
• When assuming a new position, listening is key to laying a strong foundation. Assuming a new position — sometimes internally, sometimes at a new university — has been a factor in many of the professional lives of corporate engagement managers. Bringing the expertise and lessons learned from past positions is a natural part of that career progression, but according to JoonHyung Cho, the recently appointed Director of Corporate Relations and Business Development at The University of Virginia, it’s even more important to understand the vision not only of university leadership, but of current stakeholders in all areas of university-industry partnership.

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the April 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 4, April 2022

• To market more effectively to industry, go beyond the portal. It wasn’t too long ago that website portals listing all the technologies and resources available at a research university represented a leading-edge marketing option for letting existing and potential industry partners know the opportunities available to them. More recently, however, some corporate engagement professionals have recognized that a more targeted approach might be needed — or at the very least provide a valuable add-on to existing efforts.
• Student talent draws Intel to Ohio as it plans $20 billion ‘fab’ plants. How big a draw is student talent for industry? Well, Intel just announced a planned investment of $20 billion for two fabrication facilities — just the first phase of its vision — near Columbus, OH, citing the student talent available at Ohio State and other area universities as the main draw of the city.
• UK Innovation Connect launched as a ‘dedicated’ industry partnership unit. Less than a year after the launch of UK Innovate, the University of Kentucky’s “innovation, entrepreneurship and economic enterprise for UK Research,” the university has unveiled its new industry partnership program, UK Innovation Connect (UKIC), and has also named Landon Borders as executive director of the new unit and senior associate director for Innovation Economic Development and Industry Partnerships.
• Drexel, Lockheed Martin expand partnership with STEM co-op, incubator. Drexel University and Lockheed Martin have inked an MoU that expands their decades-long partnership with several new initiatives, including a new STEM co-op program and the fall opening of an on-campus technology and innovation incubator devoted to the company.
• Newhouse School reaping partnerships from expanded alumni outreach efforts. Last year, UIEA reported that Syracuse University’s Newhouse School had partnered with Rookie Road, a start-up co-founded by Syracuse alum Michael Gursha, as the first company to take advantage of the Newhouse Startup Garage. Now, the school has added a partnership between Newhouse and Great Point Studios that will support a learning/working experience for TRF (television, radio and film) students.
• Industry veteran hits ground running with big moves in talent pipeline development. Within a few short weeks, Knudt Flor has used his vast industry network to reportedly get around 15 global manufacturing companies (including Seimens, Bosch, and Matsuda) to support his efforts to enhance curriculum and grow internships, co-ops, capstone projects and other aspects of “dual learning” at the College of Charleston.

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the March 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 3, March 2022

• As engagement offices seek new hires, emphasis on relationships brings shift and challenges. Call it alliance management, a more strategic approach replacing a transactional one, or simply “holistic” corporate engagement — however you want to name the undeniable shift that has taken place in how universities approach their industry partnerships, one thing is clear: That new approach often requires staff with new and different skills — a clear departure from what managers may have been looking for just a few years ago. And while the degree to which that shift has occurred varies significantly from campus to campus, most corporate relations managers say the change has been undeniable.
• Brock U ‘primes the pump,’ more than doubles industry-sponsored research income. In the recently published “Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities 2021 report,” Research Infosource, a national company that tracks Canada’s research and development performance, ranked Brock University in first place out of 21 universities in its category for corporate research income growth. According to the report, the value of Brock’s research grants and contracts received from corporate sources grew 134.5% from fiscal years 2019 to 2020.
• Micro-internships create opportunities for diversity on many different levels. Micro-internships have gained increasing popularity in recent years for several reasons, such as the ability for industry partners to “try out” potential employees with minimal cost, and to pursue collaborations that were virtual in nature in a world that had become more virtual. But other advantages of micro-internships that were perhaps not so readily apparent have also emerged.
• Teamwork at the heart of industry engagement growth at U Minnesota. The recent annual report issued at the University of Minnesota noted that, for the first time in its history, the university had exceeded $1 billion in annual “externally-sponsored” research awards. And while that figure includes both federal and corporate funding, Interim Vice President for Research J. Michael Oakes, who presented these results to the University of Minnesota Board of Regents’ Mission Fulfillment Committee, cited the university’s Corporate Engagement Center and Strategic Partnerships and Research Collaborative (SPARC) as key contributors to that success.
• ETSU pursues ‘consultative’ industry collaborations with grad and undergrad students. The College of Business and Technology at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) calls it their “Consultative Client Service” model, the latest engagement approach by a school that has been collaborating with businesses and start-ups in the region for years. Employed at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the approach involves industry partners engaging with a team of students to help them solve real business problems.

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the February 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 2, February 2022

• Recruitment or alliance management? Engagement execs play balancing act. Given the limited resources available at most corporate engagement offices, few managers have sufficient bandwidth to commit as much time, dollars, and staff as they’d like to both creating new industry partnerships and nurturing and expanding existing ones. When forced to make a choice, it seems that nearly all come down on the side of alliance management — although there’s a wide range seen in their approaches, and in the allocation of resources. Much of that differential flows, it appears, from staff size.
• Four years in, VA Tech sees evolution in its corporate tiering model. As one of the pioneers of corporate tiering, Virginia Tech has had several years to see its initial model unfold — and to learn and change based on that experience. “The nuances are becoming clearer,” shares Brad Fravel, MBA, PhD, Executive Director, LINK. “We’ve also layered on more topical strategies to complement corporate portfolios.”
• New center at UT-Dallas to partner with retailers on digital transformation. The Naveen Jindal School of Management (JSOM) at the University of Texas at Dallas has established the Center for Retail Innovation and Strategy Excellence (RISE), whose goal is to be a leader in the digital transformation it believes the retail industry is about to experience.
• Marquette and 100-year partner chart an expanded future with master agreement. Not surprisingly, the 100-year-long partnership between Marquette University and Kohler Co. is the most comprehensive collaboration the university has with any industry partner. But even with that long and successful track record, the partners have shunned the passive position of, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
• Gilead ‘flips the script’ in new partnership with HBCUs and HSIs. In most educational partnerships involving universities and industry, the university faculty will develop the curriculum at the request of and/or with input from the industry partner. In a new program just launched by Gilead, however, the pharmaceutical firm has “flipped the script.”
• Patent attorney warns against pitfalls arising from joint IP ownership. In a recent webinar entitled “Overcoming Joint IP Ownership Challenges in University Research Partnerships,” Rodney L. Sparks, JD, PhD, former Senior Biotechnology Patent Counsel for UVA Licensing & Ventures Group, addressed the meaning of co-ownership, potential challenges involving patent prosecution, litigation, and licensing, and how to avoid many of them.

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the January 2022 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 4, No. 1, January 2022

• Industry-trained engagement managers overcome ‘cultural conflict’ with universities. A clear trend has emerged in industry engagement offices, where leadership hiring is decidedly in the direction of those coming out of industry as opposed to academia. The new industry-groomed faces bring with them a natural question for their university employers: How much of a challenge do they face in assimilating to — and perhaps altering — the clear cultural differences between university life and the faster, more cut-throat world of corporate America? How do they get their new teams on board and successfully implement programs that may be quite different than what their new staffs are accustomed to?
• OK State launches Fast Track agreement to reduce barriers common in IP negotiations. Oklahoma State University’s Fast Track program, designed to shift the focus of industry-sponsored research negotiations from IP rights to the actual project itself, is one of the initial efforts of its new commercialization program, “Cowboy Innovations,” launched in September.
• Paid internship program will benefit UWM students from diverse backgrounds. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, in partnership with the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC), will be making it possible for 100 students from underrepresented populations to receive paid internships with area corporations over the next two years.
• NUS, Cisco launch on-campus ‘corporate lab’ for innovation. In what could be described as the ultimate in integration between university and industry research, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Cisco have launched the “Cisco-NUS Accelerated Digital Economy Corporate Laboratory.” The campus-based lab will feature researchers from both organizations working together on projects of keen interest to Cisco, with the goal of boosting innovation and research in several key areas.
• Duality selects advisory committee, adds industry reps for “end user” perspective. The Duality quantum accelerator program has chosen the initial members of its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which has been created to support participating start-ups with industry know-how — specifically, extensive expertise in quantum science and technology.
• GA Tech-Lorraine joins European neuro network and builds EU-based industry ties. Georgia Tech-Lorraine (GTL), an institution based in Metz, France formed in 1990, has become a founding member of NeurotechEU: The European University of Brain and Technology, providing an entrée to industry in the EU.

The following is a list of the articles that appear in the December 2021 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor monthly newsletter.

If you are a current subscriber click here to log in and access this issue as well as your bonus webinar video, Metrics and Benchmarking for University Corporate Engagement: Breaking Down Silos to Gauge Performance.

Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now to get access every month to the best guidance available on expanding industry engagement efforts and attracting and managing corporate partnerships, as well as access to our online archive of back issues.

University-Industry Engagement Advisor
Vol. 3, No. 12, December 2021

• Experts offer guidance for navigating the choppy waters of data use agreements. “Data’s a big deal; the issues are constantly changing,” said Elaine L. Brock, JD, MHSA, president and senior partner in Contracts, Compliance, and Conflict of Interest Authority LLC (C3Authority), addressing participants in the recent “Data Use Agreements” UIDP Contracting Fundamentals Webinar. “It gets complicated when you’re trying to keep up with all these different things, like the privacy considerations and the implications for social media and other kinds of emerging types of date like biometrics identifiers.”
• Industry advisory board launched to strengthen engagement initiative. The University of New Brunswick has brought together a diverse group of industry leaders into an industry advisory board as part of its “Fulcrum” corporate engagement initiative. The goal is to offer industry insights to the university’s Research & Innovation Partnerships group and to help “spread the word” about UNB’s desire to partner with industry.
• Ole Miss uses Engagement Council and new “Hub” website to boost partnerships. The University of Mississippi has launched a website it calls its “Industry Engagement Hub” to help build industry partnerships — and a key participant in the development of the site was the UM “Industry Engagement Council,” established in 2019 specifically to help create those strategic alliances.
• Ulster U and industry network join forces in new model for apprenticeship program. Ireland’s Ulster University and The Manufacturing and Engineering Growth and Advancement (MEGA) network, which includes 66 industry members, are partnering in a degree-level (four-year) apprenticeship program with the goal of developing a pipeline of graduates armed with industry 4.0 skills. Students who participate will earn a salary from the date they start the course and will incur no additional costs in their education.
• Arkansas alliance engages industry to help strengthen university research efforts. The Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA), a statewide organization that facilitates collaborations with Arkansas’ six primary research institutions, has maintained an ongoing strategy of having its board of trustees dominated by industry partners — which, it says, has been critical to its success. That policy led to early efforts in strengthening research at the institutions by attracting talented scholars from outside the state, and then incentivizing leading in-state researchers to continue their efforts within Arkansas. More recently, the industry-focused board’s efforts have led to several university collaborations with industry.