WHAT DOES IT take for a university-
based research center to be
financially sustainable over the
long term? A report from IESE
Business School’s Entrepreneurship
and Innovation Center in Barcelona,
Spain, highlights 12 models
that centers might adopt to achieve
economic stability while preserving
the quality of their research.
The 40-page report was written
by Josemaria Siota and Antonio
Dávila of IESE, in collaboration
with Xavier Contijoch of the
consultancy firm Opinno. Other
collaborators include the European
Commission, the National
University of Ireland Galway,
Roma Tre University, European
Young Innovators Forum, accelerator
VentureHub, and the language
translation service Translated.
The research team’s four-year
analysis of 3,881 research centers
in 107 countries indicates that a
research center’s work generally
consists of three phases: research
(discovery), transformation (invention)
and commercialization
(innovation). In the initial research
phase, centers work against
their economic sustainability
when they fail to support knowledge
sharing among researchers
or establish key performance
indicators to help them measure
progress toward their goals. During
the innovation phase, they might
have unclear business models, lack
distinct brands, or be hindered by
internal bureaucracies.
In all, the report presents 16
potential causes of failure, and
16 best practices that centers can
adopt to address them. In addition,
the report shares 12 successful
business models, with examples
from centers within universities,
industry, and government.
One successful model includes
licensing research, such as SAP has
done with its licensing fee structure.
Another includes the holistic
consideration of research impact,
as Massachusetts Institute of
Technology does at its Deshpande
Center, which uses holistic metrics
to track its impact over time.
The authors’ goal is to eliminate
systems of “broken innovation,”
which too often lead to center closures.
By adopting “linked innovation,”
academic centers can ensure
that they pursue research with
economic value to their markets
and ensure their doors stay open
for years to come.
Read “Technology Transfer: Commercializing Discoveries at Research Centers Through Linked Innovation.”