Fostering a Global Approach within Industry and Academic Collaborations: Making a Real-World Difference

The importance of collaboration between academia and industry

Universities have traditionally been a place for research and learning, where young people study, learn, and later join a field or profession where their knowledge can be applied. A large number of students see it that way, with a university education mainly being a springboard to a career. Nevertheless, universities have also always been a source of new ideas, technologies, and innovation—brokers of cutting-edge knowledge that can have real-world impact. Industry, for its part, can offer faculty and students valuable learning opportunities that simply can’t be replicated in the classroom. This symbiotic relationship has led to the deeper cultivation of mutually beneficial partnerships, and these collaborations yield many benefits that extend far beyond the individual organizations involved:

• Bridging the theory–practice divide: Applying theoretical knowledge to practical problems improves learning outcomes, exposes students to industry trends, and allows them to put their skills to use in the real world. Academics also gain access to industry funding, state-of-the-art facilities, and real-world data, enriching their research and enhancing the practical relevance of their work.
• Driving innovation through expertise: Industry–academia partnerships open up new avenues for innovation, accelerating development cycles, mitigating R&D costs, generating creative solutions, and giving companies a competitive edge in rapidly evolving markets.
• Building a network of resources: These collaborations lead to an expanded network of contacts and to opportunities that can catalyze future partnerships. Students gain access to exciting internships and co-op programs, while companies can nurture a pipeline of skilled graduates who can meet their needs.

While the benefits are clear, initiating and maintaining these relationships is no easy feat.

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Challenges in industry–academia collaborations

Industry and academia have fundamentally different cultures, priorities, and modes of operation:

• Misaligned objectives: Academics may prioritize fundamental research and publications in journals that might only be read by other university faculty, while industry partners seek immediate, practical solutions and tangible returns on investment. From my experience, setting the expectations and goals very clear from the beginning is paramount.
• Cultural differences: The free-flowing, exploratory environment of academia contrasts with industry’s more structured, profit-driven approach, creating communication and operational challenges. A publication from Malaysia speaks in this context about the ”clash of two cultures ”, referring to the lack of urgency on the part of academic partners, whereas Industry partners often insist on measurable goals and specific timeframes. There is no standardized way to tackle this challenge, it depends on the partners involved and the openness of every single individual on such collaboration to adapt. Nevertheless, collaboration policies, including regular communication cycles can help to mitigate this challenge.
• Intellectual property concerns: The conflict between academics’ emphasis on open knowledge-sharing and industry’s need to protect proprietary information can impede the transfer of knowledge and technology. According to a research report, 49% of survey respondents considered intellectual property (IP) issues to be the biggest barrier in such partnerships . ?Highly professional technology transfer offices on the university side are required to avoid conflict and foster commercialization.

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Exploring collaboration models

Despite these inherent hurdles, fostering successful industry–academia partnerships is not just possible but essential. A variety of collaborative models have therefore been developed to navigate the conflicts and challenges:

• Internship Programs: Allowing students to gain hands-on experience and apply classroom learning in real-world settings, such as in the long-running partnership between SAP Labs Korea and Seoul National University , which began in 2018. In the US alone, about 6 million young people did paid and unpaid internships in 2023.
• Research Partnerships and Affiliate Programs: Collaborating on joint research projects, innovation hubs, and other initiatives to address industry challenges, develop new technologies, and drive economic growth, as exemplified by Google’s partnership with University College London to advance flu tracking or SAP joining in Stanford's Institute for Human Centric AI (HAI) affiliate program.
• Guest Lectures and Workshops: Inviting industry professionals to share their expertise and insights, as in the regular seminars run by SAP Labs Korea and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) .

Emerging technologies are also ushering in new models, such as the exciting partnership between Arizona State University and OpenAI to explore the potential of ChatGPT in education, which began in January 2024, and the new SAP Labs Munich campus at the Technical University of Munich that opened last month.

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The complexity of guiding a collaboration toward concrete results

During discussions at the ION conference in Seoul, I observed a fascinating phenomenon: academics from business schools sometimes develop an especially keen desire to implement transformative changes after talking with executives about their research results. They firmly believe that their ideas, once corporate executives understand them, will transform the way companies run. They then experience a degree of disappointment as they observe how the business sector adopts ideas more slowly and how transforming new concepts into reality often requires an immense budget and significant will.

As potent as an idea may be, the practicalities of the real world can be harsher, with executives exercising caution when it comes to implementing transformative measures. The successful transformation initiatives that I have seen have typically relied upon robust top-down support, collaboration with an experienced consultancy firm, considerable time to implement transformational changes, and vigilant monitoring of the outcomes—all of which are substantially more involved than simply discussing ideas with executives.

While this complexity underscores the undeniable gap between the academic business schools and business realms, it also emphasizes the significance of forums like ION, which promote productive collisions between the two worlds.

In conclusion

In today’s complex business landscape, collaboration and innovation are paramount to solving critical problems. Despite the challenges, industry–academia partnerships remain a vital pathway to groundbreaking research, the commercialization of ideas, and the development of talent to meet the demands of an ever-evolving job market. By combining diverse perspectives, these collaborations can yield outcomes of immense value and impact.

During my own experience of lecturing university students, I have been continually inspired and motivated by the innovative ideas of young talent. At the end of the day, universities prepare young people for careers in research, development, business, and many other fields. That remains, for industry at least, the main contribution of the educational sector: building talent that can flourish, bring fresh ideas into companies, and help industry to grow.

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(Disclaimer: The ideas, views, and opinions expressed in my LinkedIn posts, articles, videos, and profiles represent my own views and not those of my current or previous employers or any organizations with which I am associated. Additionally, any and all comments on my posts from respondents/commenters to my postings belong to, and only to, the responder posting the comment.)