Industry engagement

A starting point for industry involvement or partnership is to provide something that industry cannot or does not do itself. Enabling future innovations that can be taken to market by industry.

  • How does your research fit with company needs?
  • Consider the situation from the company’s perspective.

Cultivate personal ties which could lead to creative and promising collaborations.

  • Make your research accessible and understandable to your target audience.
  • Have ready a “30-second elevator pitch” to create interest in a project or idea. (Again, think about it from the company’s perspective and how your project or idea could benefit them.)
  • Gain a commitment to engage in further dialogue.

For further guidance, contact the Technology Transfer Centre.

Useful industry engagement resources

Converge Challenge is the leading, pan Scotland, company creation programme for staff, students and recent graduates of Scottish Universities and Research Institutes with the aim of creating a new generation of entrepreneurs in Scotland. Converge brings together the most ambitious and creative thinkers from academia, research & business with ALL industry sectors, products and service-based ideas at any stage of the development.

By providing high quality training, hands-on mentoring and practical support, including cash prizes, Converge Challenge helps to refine and accelerate the pipeline of spin-outs and start-ups by developing fledgling businesses into investor ready companies. The ambition and goal of Converge Challenge is to create sustainable profitable companies and help Scotland grow as a CAN Do competitive economy by giving students and staff commercial skills to bring new products and services to market.

University Technology (UT) is a pan-Scottish university initiative that was originally launched in March 2004 by Scotland’s universities as part of a collaborative effort, over and above each university’s marketing efforts, to showcase new technology opportunities from Scotland’s academic research base.

Informatics Ventures is a knowledge exchange program that runs across the Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA) and helps foster innovation and entrepreneurship within  start-up and spin-out companies and develops strong relationships between Industry and Academia.

The Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE) helps students in Scotland discover their entrepreneurial talent and start up their own ventures. Their mission is to help create new student businesses and social enterprises and to increase the number of students who consider entrepreneurship a real option during and after their studies through a number of activities and events.

Interface is a knowledge connection for business, exists to promote innovative business and academic collaborations through translating the needs of companies of all sizes, and from all sectors, into manageable projects for Scottish Universities and Research Institutions whether it involves knowledge exchange, business and product development, process or service improvement, or analysis and testing.

Scottish Enterprise identify and exploit opportunities for Scotland’s economic growth by supporting Scottish companies to compete, helping to build globally competitive sectors, attracting new investment and creating a world-class business environment. Might help in identifying local partners.