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Bridging the Gap: How Universities and Industry are Building Stronger Partnerships—Together
Next week, university and industry leaders will gather at the UIDP Conference in Salt Lake City to explore new ways to collaborate, share knowledge, and drive innovation. At the heart of these partnerships is a shared goal: bring great ideas to life through research, development, and real-world application.
Universities and companies both face increasing pressure to produce results faster, with fewer resources. The organizations making the most of these partnerships are building better systems to connect with each other, strengthen collaboration, and scale innovation. And they’re doing it with tools, like InfoReady, designed to make the process easier and more transparent.
Universities Leading the Way in Corporate Relations
With shifts in federal funding and growing demand for impact-driven research, University research offices and corporate relations teams are under more pressure than ever to help find new sources of funding for researchers and faculty. The institutions that will thrive in this environment are the ones treating corporate engagement as a strategic function—not just a reactive task.
Here’s what we see high-performing institutions doing:
- Creating a single, central hub for corporate RFPs so researchers always know where to go.
- Widely promoting funding opportunities through newsletters, emails, forums, meetings, other websites and personal conversations.
- Making those listings searchable and relevant, improving discoverability and faculty engagement.
- Proactively matching opportunities to the right researchers, so faculty spend less time searching and more time preparing.
- Running transparent proposal reviews for limited submission opportunities, often using internal rubrics tailored to sponsor expectations.
- Using smart workflows to streamline the proposal collection, review, and selection process.
When teams are able to simplify these administrative tasks, they gain back hours of time each week. That means they can give more focus on the work that really matters--developing partnerships, refining proposals, and connecting researchers to funding to move their work forward.
As Michael Hodges, Engagement Specialist, Corporate Engagement and Foundation Relations, Princeton University shared with us:
“InfoReady is an essential part of our communication strategy for all research funding opportunities across Princeton University. With a central web-based location to post and apply for corporate funding opportunities alongside all other opportunities, it provides our researchers and faculty an easy way to stay current and quickly learn more. When corporations notify us of new funding competitions, we can make it available to our researchers within minutes.”
How Industry Partners Are Streamlining Collaboration
On the flip side, companies are seeking efficient, effective ways to connect with universities and support cutting-edge research. They’re moving away from ad hoc email requests and scattered documents toward structured, trackable, and scalable systems.
Leading companies use InfoReady to:- Publish and manage grant and award opportunities in a centralized, branded portal accessible to university partners.
- Standardize and automate proposal workflows, making it easy to manage high volumes of applications without extra work.
- Collect consistent data, enabling deeper analysis and smarter decision-making.
- Track ROI and research impact, helping demonstrate the value of academic partnerships to internal stakeholders.
With fewer administrative bottlenecks, companies can focus on identifying the most promising ideas—and supporting them through funding, mentorship, and collaboration.
Stronger Together: A Shared Platform for Shared Success
Whether you’re at a university trying to attract corporate sponsorships, or at a company seeking academic partners for your innovation initiatives, the challenges are remarkably similar. Both sides need visibility, structure, and tools that reduce friction.
At InfoReady, we’re inspired by the institutions and organizations building smarter, faster partnerships—fueled by trust, transparency, and shared goals. We are proud to play a supporting role in their success stories.
