Universities are full of people who would happily spend a semester on your problem. Most companies never ask, or ask in a way that does not fit how universities work: a vague question, sent in June, with a contract that forbids publishing anything. Then they conclude that working with academia is slow.
It does not have to be. This guide covers the main ways companies work with universities and research institutes, how to run a challenge for students and researchers, and the three things that trip most companies up: timing, publishing and who owns the results. It is the third of our guides on running challenges with outside partners, after startups and suppliers. For the wider picture, see what open innovation is.
What is university-industry collaboration?
University-industry collaboration means a company and a university or research institute work together on a question, a technology or people. It ranges from a student project that takes a few weeks to research partnerships that run for years.
Companies do it for three reasons: to get answers to questions they cannot answer alone, to get early access to research and technology, and to meet the students they will want to hire. A good collaboration usually serves at least two of these.
What forms does it take?
| Form | How it works | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student challenges and course projects | Your problem becomes a case in a course, a hackathon or a competition | Fresh ideas, quick and cheap, meeting future hires | Students are learning; expect ideas, not finished solutions |
| Thesis projects | A bachelor’s or master’s student spends a semester on your question | One focused question, real analysis, a likely hire | Needs a supervisor at your company with time |
| Contract research | You pay a university or research institute to study a defined question | Specific technical questions, access to labs and equipment | You buy the work, but rules on publishing still apply |
| Industrial PhDs | A doctoral student works on a research question for your company over several years | Deep long-term questions, building your own research skills | Long commitment; the thesis must still be academic research |
| Joint research projects | You, one or more universities and often other companies share a funded project | New technology, shared cost and risk | Slow to set up, many partners, rules from the funder |
Many countries support these forms with public money. In France, the CIFRE scheme, run by ANRT since 1981, gives companies a grant of 14,000 euros a year for three years when they employ a doctoral student on a research project with a university lab. In the UK, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships have linked businesses, universities and graduates since 1975, with projects of 12 to 36 months part-funded by Innovate UK. Check the current rules with the programme itself before you plan around them.
When does a challenge to universities make sense?
A challenge is the right tool when:
- you have a clear question but do not know who can answer it. A challenge sent to several departments or universities finds the group you would not have found by searching.
- you want many angles on one problem. Ten student teams will try ten different things. A single research contract tries one.
- you want to meet students. A challenge is a better recruiting event than a careers fair, because you see how people think.
- the question can wait for the academic calendar. Universities plan courses and theses months ahead.
It is the wrong tool when the question is confidential at its core, when you need one specific lab’s equipment, or when you need the answer next month. Then go straight to a contract with the right group.
How do you run a challenge for students and researchers?
These nine steps take a challenge from question to result. Allow a full semester from first contact to final answers.
- Pick one question with an owner. “How could we reuse the heat from our ovens?” or “Which sensors could predict wear on this pump?” The owner is the person who will act on the answers, and who should meet the teams.
- Find the right people at the university. The innovation or industry liaison office, a professor who teaches a relevant course, or a student association. Ask early: course projects for next semester are often agreed months before it starts.
- Agree the rules with the university first. Who owns what comes out, what students and researchers may publish, and what you will share with them. More on this below.
- Write the brief. The problem in plain language with numbers, the data or access you will give, what a good answer looks like, the timeline, and what the best teams get: a prize, a paid follow-up project, a thesis, an interview.
- Agree the scoring criteria and the jury. The question owner, an expert from your company and, if the challenge is part of a course, the teacher. Share the criteria with the teams.
- Launch it in person. A visit or a video call with the question owner at the start makes more difference than any document. Students work harder on a problem when they have met the person who has it.
- Be available during the work. One fixed contact person and one or two check-in points. Teams that can ask questions produce answers you can use.
- Score on your own, then meet. Each juror scores every answer against the criteria before the jury discusses them. Let the best teams present.
- Say what happens next. Tell every team what you will do with their work, thank them, and follow up with the people you would like to hire or work with again.
Our guides on writing a challenge brief and scoring with a scorecard go into the mechanics.
Who owns the results, and can they be published?
This is where most collaborations get stuck, because universities and companies want different things. A university needs to publish and teach; a company wants to protect what gives it an edge. Agree the answers before anyone starts work.
| Question | What to know |
|---|---|
| Who owns what researchers create? | It depends on the country and the university. In Sweden, under the “teacher’s exemption”, university researchers usually own their own results, not the university. In most other countries the university owns them and its technology transfer office negotiates for it. |
| Who owns what students create? | Students are usually not employees, so do not assume the university can sign their rights over to you. Agree terms with the students themselves where it matters. |
| Can results be published? | Usually yes, and you should expect it. A common compromise is that you get to read a paper or thesis before it is published, with time to ask for confidential details to be removed or a patent to be filed first. |
| What about confidential data? | Share as little as the question needs. Use anonymised or sample data where you can, and sign a confidentiality agreement only for what really is confidential. |
| Are there model agreements? | Yes. In the UK, the Intellectual Property Office publishes the Lambert toolkit, a set of model agreements with different options for who owns and uses the results. Many universities elsewhere have their own templates. Start from those rather than from your supplier contract. |
For a student challenge, keep it simple: students keep what they create, you may use the ideas presented to you, and anything you want to take further becomes a separate, paid project with its own agreement.
What makes universities want to work with you?
- A real problem. Students and researchers can tell an interesting question from a marketing exercise.
- Access. Data, a site visit, a machine to test on, an engineer to talk to. This is often worth more to a research group than money.
- Respect for the academic calendar. Ask in good time for the next semester, and keep to your own deadlines.
- The right to publish. A collaboration that never leads to a paper or a thesis is a poor deal for an academic.
- A follow-up. A paid project, a thesis, a job interview. Teams work harder when the best result leads somewhere.
What are the most common mistakes?
- Asking too late. A request in the middle of a semester rarely finds a course or a student who can take it on.
- A question that is too big or too vague. “Help us with sustainability” gets essays. “Halve the energy used by line 3” gets analysis.
- No one on your side. If nobody from the company meets the teams or answers questions, the answers will drift away from what you need.
- A contract that forbids publishing. Most universities will not sign it, and the ones that do will not send their best people.
- Silence afterwards. Students and professors talk to each other. The next challenge depends on how this one ended.
Which tools do you need?
For a single course project, email and a shared folder will do. They stop working when several universities answer the same challenge, when a jury needs to score thirty submissions, or when you want to show what came of last year’s challenges.
Hives runs a university challenge as a challenge of its own. Students and researchers answer one short form without creating an account. As guests, they see their challenge and nothing else in your hive. The jury scores every answer on the same criteria in one place, and you can hide answers so teams do not see each other’s work. Hives does not manage research contracts, grants or student records. Our open innovation software guide compares the options by job.
Frequently asked questions
What is university-industry collaboration?
University-industry collaboration means a company and a university or research institute work together on a question, a technology or people. It includes student projects, thesis work, contract research, industrial PhDs and joint research projects.
How do companies collaborate with universities?
The most common forms are student challenges and course projects, thesis projects, contract research, industrial PhDs and joint research projects, often with public funding. Most companies start with a student challenge or a thesis, because they are quick and cheap, and move on to research partnerships with the groups they get to know.
How long does a university challenge take?
Plan for a full semester. Agree the question with the university a few months before the semester starts, give teams eight to twelve weeks to work, and allow a few weeks at the end for presentations, scoring and decisions.
Who owns the IP from a university collaboration?
It depends on the country, the university and what you agree. In Sweden, researchers usually own their own results under the teacher’s exemption; in most other countries the university owns them. Students are usually not employees, so their rights must be agreed with them. Settle ownership in writing before work starts.
Can a company stop a university from publishing results?
Usually not entirely, and it should not try. A common agreement gives the company time to review a paper or thesis before it is published, to remove confidential information or file a patent first. Contracts that ban publishing put off the best researchers.
How is a university challenge different from an open call to startups or suppliers?
A university challenge follows the academic calendar, expects results to be published, and often aims at learning and hiring as much as solutions. A startup call looks for a product to pilot, and a supplier challenge asks the companies you already buy from to solve a problem, so the questions are about savings and future tenders.
Sources
- ANRT, Le dispositif Cifre
- Innovate UK, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships: what they are and how to apply
- UK Intellectual Property Office, Lambert toolkit
- University of Gothenburg, Policy avseende immateriella rättigheter (the Swedish teacher’s exemption)