Building a Market-Smart Organizational Structure for University-Industry Partnership
With amplified interest in growing partnerships with companies, universities must evaluate their current partnership strategy and seek new ways to diversify and deepen their industry engagements.
EAB created this resource to help leaders develop a market-smart organizational design. The first section details the factors that drive university leaders to rethink existing organizational structures, establish the key actors in the partnership landscape, and articulate what their industry partnership organizational structure attempts to achieve.
The second section offers three archetypes that provide an in-depth overview of market-smart organizational structures. Leaders can use these archetypes to determine which components will fit their universities best. Download the brief or explore each section below.
The case for market-smart partnership organizational structures
University efforts to improve their industry partnership strategy have produced suboptimal results as they insufficiently addressed their organizational design flaws. Lacking a refined and institutional strategy-aligned structure, many universities confront a multiplicity of partnership goals and missions, increased competition for industry investments between other universities, and internal conflict among institutional units.
To address these shortcomings, university leaders must rethink their organizational structure in response to three emerging institutional imperatives:
- Align partnership engagements to institutional missions
- Promote a distinctive value proposition for partnering
- Present a unified front to market
A market-smart organizational design incorporates these imperatives to balance industry needs with university goals, empowering institutional strategy for greater private sector collaboration and better serving corporate partners.
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Profiled market smart industry organizational models
This resource supports university leaders in determining the best organizational structure for industry partnerships. The brief offers details on the three profiled structural models, including the core characteristics, strategic considerations, typical reporting structures, case studies, and guidance on when and why institutions should consider adopting them. Rather than starting from scratch, leaders can use these archetypes as guiding models as they evaluate their existing structure and strategy for industry partnerships.
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Research-Industry Partnership Office
The research-industry partnership office is a unit located within the research office that leverages dedicated staff to grow industry-sponsored research and intellectual property licensing.
- Located within research office
- Targeted at promoting and managing university-industry research partnerships
- Acts as the liaison as well as the broker between the university (research office and faculty) to industry partners
- Performs both business development and partner stewardship activities
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University Corporate Committee
Corporate committees convene key stakeholders around the industry partnership mission to coordinate a university business development and partner stewardship strategy.
- Functional collaborative between and within reporting verticals and industry-interfacing units
- Often managed through a single unit or individual, most frequently research or advancement
- Comprised either of senior leaders or their designated deputies, occasionally hybridized or expanded to include other staff
- Focus ranges from high-level strategy to tactical approaches related to individual partner relationships
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University-Industry Engagement Unit
University-industry engagement units are centrally located entities with dedicated staff and organizational infrastructure targeted at growing and managing industry interactions across a research institution.
- Integrated university-wide office
- Joint-venture between two or more verticals, often with dual reporting, or exclusive reporting structure to cabinet-level officer
- Spectrum of offered services and engagement opportunities, such as sponsored research, talent access programs, corporate giving, and workforce development
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