Academic chair

Longterm bilateral relation between a company and a university through a chair
Longterm bilateral relation between a company and a university through a chair
Stakeholders: 
Large Company
Research Organisation
University
Objective of approach: 
  • Long term collaboration of science and industry
  • Company access to a longterm relationship with a university chair manager, resulting in the definition of a collaborative R&D agenda - To improve the recruitment process of young talents

A chair is a strategic approach from a company to implement a partnership with a university. The chair relationship is based on an annual fee. In return, the company gets access to a series of results, such as increased visibility, dedicated R&D projects (with academic experts in the area), improved involvement in the university life and execution of relevant events such as students' awards, hackathons or workshops.

USP: 

Long term collaboration to ensure continuation of academic research on a certain application area.

Resources: 
  • Company: Key staff (R&D, marketing, communication...)
  • University: Chair manager
  • Renowned professor who identifies and manages the challenges of the company
  • University: Research teams involved in solving the challenges raised by the chair
Success factors: 
  • Motivation of the chair manager (university) to raise new projects
  • Strategic insight of the endowed professor
  • Patience from the company to allow academic research to flourish
Barriers: 
  • Confidential aspects
  • IP issues on the exploitation of results
  • Too restrictive agreements: expectation of results on fixed time-intervals
Contact information: 

KU Leuven - Noise and Vibration Research Group, Celestijnenlaan 300B, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

CIT UPC Technology Center (Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, Barcelona Tech) Ed. Til.lers (Planta 1) C/ Jordi Girona, 31 08034 Barcelona, Spain

Workflow: 
Published