Corporate Partnership Opportunities
Some information in this guide is adapted from material available to UChicago faculty and staff on the Corporate Engagement Intranet. Visit the site for more detailed resources on corporate partnership procedures, industry research interests, and training.
Paid engagements where academic researchers utilize their expertise and research to provide guidance vital to company decision-making and optimization. This provides researchers with opportunities to expand their networks and potentially open doors to further corporate partnerships. More information on consulting agreements and best practices is available here.
Requests for proposals released around specific topics tied to company’s interests and business priorities. Utilize funding search engines such as Pivot to identify opportunities.
Opportunities for researchers to access restricted company data for research projects, typically unassociated with financial support.
Agreements between academic researchers and corporate entities to undertake research with benefit to company interests. Often initiated outside of open calls and through direct partnerships. More information on corporate sponsored research agreements is available here.
- Industry partners are focused on identifying business solutions, creating new products or services, and generating revenue or reducing costs. Your proposed research must be congruent with these goals.
- Corporate research sponsors may make significant contributions to research proposal content, unlike governmental or private foundation funders.
- While researchers can still establish the direction of their project and set a timeline, corporate partners must ensure that these meet company objectives.
- Rather than accounting for the academic calendar or meeting a preestablished grant deadline, timelines for industry-supported projects must consider business deadlines for corporate partners, such as company fiscal year cycles, which may be different from the University’s.
- Project timelines are generally less flexible than with other funders, and “no-cost extensions” can be difficult to obtain.
- It is especially important to comply with reporting requirements in corporate sponsored research, as these reports are how your scientific counterpart at the company justifies the company research fund expenditures towards your project.
- Issues such as conflicts of interest and intellectual property rights are sometimes more complex when working with corporate partners than with other funders of research. Familiarize yourself with university resources on policies and procedures ahead of initiating corporate partnerships.
- Work with the SSD Research Development team and UChicago’s Corporate Engagement team to identify potential industry partners and define the scope of collaboration and partnership with corporate stakeholders.
- Collaborate with industry partners whose strengths complement or supplement your own. Companies are often especially interested in partnering with researchers who either fill an expertise gap within their organization or are strong collaborators with industry scientists.
- Involve the Corporate Engagement and URA Contracts team early in legal discussions to ensure clear communication on contracts. Researchers should avoid negotiation of contract language. More guidance on contracts is available here.
- Be honest about your capabilities. Ensure you have the skills, resources, and knowledge to deliver on what you promise and be realistic about your timeline.
- Express your research and capabilities in language that translates to corporate priorities. Avoid academic jargon and dense language in initial conversations.
- Communicate and leverage your strengths. Highlight what makes your work and expertise unique from others working in similar areas.
- Understand that industry partners have different timelines and fiscal constraints than university researchers.
Publishes bi-annual open calls for proposals for research on topics including AI for information security and fairness in AI.
Cooperative AI Research Grants
Offers annual open calls for proposals on AI research related to topics such as cooperation amongst AI agents, utilizing AI to facilitate human cooperation, and information asymmetries and transparency.
Google Academic Research Awards
Publishes annual open calls for proposals on a range of research areas within technology and computing. Past open calls have focused on utilizing machine learning to approach large-scale societal problems, society-centered AI, and improving digital safety.
Collaborates with academic researchers on projects related to its focus areas, including artificial intelligence. Past research collaborations of interest to social sciences include projects on AI ethics.
Offers grants to researchers utilizing AI projects to advance social and economic impact. Past funded projects have utilized AI to approach challenges in healthcare, agriculture, business, and more.
Publishes annual open calls for proposals and fellowship applications to support research related to technology and artificial intelligence. Past open calls have focused on AI and society, the evolving future of work, and relationships between human cognition and AI.
Offers support for university collaborations through its Strategic Alliance for Research and Technology (START) program, which allows academic researchers to propose innovative research ideas in areas related to AI, digital security, big data, digital health, and more.
Google Academic Research Awards
Publishes annual open calls for proposals on a range of research areas within technology and computing. Past open calls have focused on utilizing machine learning to approach large-scale societal problems, society-centered AI, and improving digital safety.
Offers support for university collaborations through its Strategic Alliance for Research and Technology (START) program, which allows academic researchers to propose innovative research ideas in areas related to AI, digital security, big data, digital health, and more.
Partners with academic researchers in the social sciences and adjacent disciplines on novel research related to its focus areas of neuroscience and data science and digital health. Partnerships in neuroscience focus on brain disorders and diseases, while those in data science and digital health center on harnessing AI for diagnostic technologies.
Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
Partners with academic researchers and research centers on projects related to its focus areas of financial security, impact data science, and small businesses.
Offers support for university collaborations through its Strategic Alliance for Research and Technology (START) program, which allows academic researchers to propose innovative research ideas in areas related to AI, digital security, big data, digital health, and more.
University of Chicago is a member of UIDP, an organization offering resources, networking, and events to facilitate partnerships between universities and industry. You may create an account using your UChicago email address to access member-exclusive webinars, publications and reports, and research projects on enhancing university-industry partnerships.