Connecting universities and industry to bring innovations to market
Kauffman Foundation-funded research indicates the importance of university-industry collaborations as a driver of innovation. In 2005, the Foundation witnessed a downturn in these collaborations and frustration expressed by parties in both camps.
To create a focus on building successful collaborations, funding from the Kauffman Foundation and six other organizations established the
University-Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP) at the National Academies. The UIDP works to identify ways to reduce transaction and opportunity costs when U.S. universities and industry collaborate to bring innovations to market.
Among other initiatives, the UIDP seeks to better connect universities and industry by fostering dialogue on tech transfer, licensing, and other university-industry partnering issues; identify and communicate best practices in university-industry partnering around the globe; and achieve consensus on guiding principles for university-industry collaboration.
In addition to the Kauffman Foundation, six other founding organizations representing industry and universities are leading the initiative: IBM Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
From the initiative, the founding organizations anticipate a tangible outcome that university research officers and industry licensing partners can use to nourish and expand collaborative partnerships between U.S. universities and industry.
