From PPPs to ppps: Building Effective Academic-Industry-Government Collaborations

A summary of discussions with industry, academic, and government stakeholders on what it takes to build lasting consortiums. TL;DR - it is about people openly and honestly communicating their needs, wants, and constraints.
Jason Hattrick-Simpers

1. Jason Hattrick-Simpers Department Of Materials Science And Engineering University Of Toronto NRCan CanmetMATERIALS From PPPs to ppps : Building Effective Academic – Industry – Government Collaborations

2. The Canada Problem 2 Federal Investment Industry Funders

3. The big barriers Building Trust Aligning Incentives Managing Expectations Some quick success stories Lessons learned Communication is key Know your Role! Public Good has many definitions Be Flexible SDL De-Risking Innovation NRCan Hitesh Jain Dr Anjuli Szawiola Dr. Mark Kozdras NRC Dr. Robert Black Dr. Andrew Johnston Acceleration Consortium Padraic Foley NIST Dr Jim Warren Renaissance Philanthropy Tom Kalil OpenAI ChatGPT 3 Rough Outline & Acknowledgements

4. The Elephant(s) In The Room The real challenges are how to align incentives, build trust, and manage expectations across three sectors that can’t agree on what R.O.I stands for R.O.I. Industry  Return On Investment Academic  Research Of Interest Government  Results Of Importance Timelines are mismatched Industry “solve my problem in 6 months or we’ve lost market advantage” Academics “a problem worth solving is worth careful thought and study” Government “Fill out form 1020Z-rev 3.4(a) 2016…” IP, IP, IP Academics want the information out there (except the secret sauce) Government wants the secret sauce out there (except where our not-friends see it) Industry EVERYTHING is secret sauce, and it all belongs to them 4

5. Trust And Incentives Building trust is linked with understanding everyone’s incentive structures Relationships are central Have we worked together successfully in the past? Understanding what success means to each individual Telescope – NRCan version 1.0 versus 2.0 Start small and build Aligning interests Is the industry interest immediate (filling in a pothole on the road to rolling out a new product) or speculative? Is the technology academic push or industry pull? If Trust is broken, then the project is over. When working with new partners make sure there is an out. 5

6. Freedom To Explore Vs. Mandates And Goals Academic freedom can mean priorities shift almost as soon as the money arrives, while industry seeks their ROI and government funders have mandates to follow Early planning and frequent communication is necessary to create alignment between different priorities Clearly define project objectives (with milestones and outcomes) with mutual buy-in Government labs are great mid-TRL proving grounds and their outcomes can be less publishing focused Jim’s CHiMaD story 6

7. IP Is Both A Barrier And A Bridge All parties concerned want to own emerging IP and preserve existing IP Industry wants to make money and frequently owns the preceding IP that makes the technology useful Government wants to ensure the IP stays inside the country and to be allowed to disseminate for non-competitive applications Academics want to translate IP into startups or licensing fees The trick is to find the points where use case for the IP are distinct NRCan – GM welding inspection collaboration GM wanted a technology that solved a welding issue with a new alloy NRCan wanted to develop and disseminate best practices around inspection GM didn’t have their secret sauce exposed The inspection technique was disseminated through ASM best practices Carefully manage the IP at the outset w/clearly defined agreements Sometimes IP problems still emerge later… 7

8. Success Stories SEMATECH – great example of industry and government aligning over a shared concern UK Biobank – a 20 years effort first backed by government and later through industry and philanthropy – global impact Moyer’s Apple Products & University of Guelph – timely identification of an idled IP from Guelph to address Listeria concerns 100kin10 – Partnership to create 100k new STEM teachers to drive US competitiveness Project Ada – Canadian self-driving lab program designed to jump start self-driving labs + follow on projects 8

9. Communication is 1 st and foremost Persistent calls and meetings to understand one another’s goals before ink hits paper Continued regular meetings and discussions Priorities and administrations change with time Make sure the message is resonating from c-suite to the benchtop scientists Maintain Structure Start off the project by defining SMART goals for the collaboration Establish agreed upon milestones and deadlines Every side needs a champion or the project is sunk Overcoming Misalignment 9

10. Government’s Role Balancing public and private interests Private interest might be in a big retool of a plant but w/o generating new jobs does it really serve the public’s best interest? Small projects fail more but new innovations are job powerful creators Public Good is non-trivial to define Convener and trusted broker Create an environment where all parties can speak candidly about their problems Help to impartially align the interests of the various parties De-riskers of mid-TRL technologies Flexibility to work in open or confidential matters Higher appetite for risk – lessons learned are for the public good Funding 10

11. Importance Of Flexibility All parties have to understand that priorities will change Your industry partner’s needs have already changed since I started talking Government funded research projects frequently struggle with rigidity  cooperative agreements can allow for greater flexibility Philanthropists can be more accepting of shifting research priorities Frequent communication can help alert all parties to new opportunities and allow for harmonious redirections Likewise, being aware of how your partners are being evaluated by their supervisors and what they value 11

12. Smile, There Is A Light There are many examples of successful PPPs and ppps to learn from Sematech , (  some of ) the US National Labs, some NNMI’s The Acceleration Consortium PPPs and ppps succeed when people feel they are in a safe space to discuss their problems Foster this through constant open communication of their priorities, reward structures, and challenges The tip of the communications spear is KEY You need a seasoned business development office who is experienced, calm, patient, and persistent Aligned incentives drive results Government as the Catalyst – conveners, de-riskers, infrastructure 12