Promoting Facilities on Inpart: A Guide for TTOs
A New Focus on Facilities
In the UK, contract research provided by higher education increased by 5% from the 2021/22 to the 2022/23 academic year, reaching a value of £1.69 billion. Additionally, facilities and equipment-related services were valued at £280 million in the 2022/23 academic year.
This highlights a broader trend within research institutes, which are recognizing the value of widening industry engagement beyond just licensing. As a result, more facilities are being included alongside traditional technologies in Inpart portfolios. Historically, these facilities have struggled to gather the same interest as traditional IP - so how can institutes present their facilities in a more engaging manner?
Research facilities, whether labs, testing centers, or specialized equipment, are essential for fostering deeper partnerships. These facilities offer a unique opportunity for research institutes to connect with industry, promote in-house services, and form long-term, mutually beneficial collaborations. For TTOs, the ability to showcase an institute's infrastructure opens doors to new forms of engagement with industry stakeholders.
To ensure Inpart's Connect platform properly showcases these facilities, we have reviewed engagement across the platform to find out what works best for bringing in industry interest. We found that many facility profiles were overly focused on the technical details of their equipment and struggled to clearly explain just how they could address industry needs. We've written the following guidance on what to include and how to include it, in order to improve the quality of facility profiles and boost the engagement they receive. We've also interviewed Dr. Izhar Ul-Haq, Business Development Manager at the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of United Kingdom Research & Innovation (UKRI), to provide further expert advice on marketing your facilities to industry.
Tips for Writing Engaging Facility Profiles
How do Facility Profiles Differ from Traditional IP?
While both facility and technology summaries serve the broader goal of fostering industry collaboration, they focus on different assets and their respective capabilities. Technology profiles typically highlight specific inventions, and the patents associated with them; in contrast, facilities focus more on the combination of expertise, equipment, and services unique to that institute. This combination of features could apply to testing, development, and applied research. This may include access to specialized equipment, research environments, or lab spaces that are not readily available in the private sector.
A Step-by-step Guide for Facility ProfilesLondon Southbank University's Human Performance Centre
Working with Inpart to build an engaging summary for their facility, LSBU's Human Performance Centre has seen a much higher level of industry interest than most facilities in its first 6 months on the platform. We would recommend reviewing this profile alongside the advice above when drafting a profile of a facility you'd like to add to Inpart.
Conclusion
Leveraging Facilities for Industry Collaboration
For TTOs, integrating facilities into the technology transfer process is a powerful tool to forge deeper, more meaningful industry relationships. By effectively showcasing the capabilities of facilities, research institutes can attract new partnerships, access commercial opportunities, and provide a pathway for industry to leverage academic expertise and resources. These partnerships could then lead to other outcomes like licensing, sponsored research, and investment down the line. Strong, well-crafted facility profiles are a strong step in enabling both institutes and industry to innovate together.
A Step-by-step Guide for Facility Profiles
To ensure that your facility is effectively showcased, here is a guide for creating a strong, compelling profile that will attract potential partners. Remember, all the information on your profile should be non-confidential.
1. Title
Start with a clear and concise name for the facility. Think of it like the title of a research paper; it should provide enough detail for industry professionals to understand the nature of the facility immediately.
2. Precis
Provide a 140-character maximum summary that clearly outlines the use case of the facility. Focus on the problems that your facility can solve and how it benefits potential collaborators.
3. Background
Context is key. In one or two paragraphs, explain the history of the facility and areas of research it addresses. How and why did it come to be? Is it part of a specific research initiative, or has it developed over time to meet industry needs? Are there any gaps in the market or common inefficiencies in industry? What would be the impact of improving these?
4. Technology Overview
This is the heart of the profile. Describe what the facility consists of - whether it is specialized equipment, laboratories, or a suite of services. Be specific: what types of tests can be conducted and for who? Highlight any unique resources, such as advanced sensors, clean rooms, or prototyping capabilities, that are particularly valuable to the industry or are not found elsewhere.
Also, do not forget the human element; what expertise do you have on hand? What academic or technical specialists can assist companies in leveraging the facility's capabilities? Provide examples of tests conducted in the past, including any non-confidential results or success stories. If you have full case studies, you can link to this as supplementary information. This helps make the facility more tangible for potential collaborators.
Don't overload this section with technical details. Remember that this should be a marketing summary, not an academic paper. The companies that could benefit from your equipment may not have the technical know-how to interpret detailed specifications. Keep the content focused, concise, and accessible.
5. Further Details
Within the Technology Overview section, provide any additional resources such as press releases, news stories, or videos that showcase the facility's operations. This content can help potential industry partners visualize how the facility operates and see it in action. Videos of tests, research projects, or facility tours can also give an added sense of what they can expect when engaging with your institute.
6. Benefits
Highlight unique aspects of your facility that set it apart from others. Is there cutting-edge technology or proprietary equipment? Are you offering something novel, or not available elsewhere? If your facility has any specialized expertise, services, or testing capabilities, make sure to outline them clearly.
Also, consider how the facility might complement other services at your research institute. For instance, can your facility work in tandem with other labs or research units for comprehensive testing or project development?
We recommend providing this information in a quick bullet point list to best present the key selling points of your facility.
7. Applications
Who stands to benefit from your facility? Some companies may not realize your facility could work for them unless you spell it out. Detail which industries or sectors could find your services valuable. This could include sectors you've worked with before, and others that could theoretically benefit from the use of your facility.
8. Opportunity
Be explicit about the kinds of opportunities you are looking to develop with industry partners. Are you seeking commercial service delivery agreements, contract research, collaborative R&D, or development partners for specific projects? Clearly state the types of collaborations that you are open to, so that industry partners know exactly how they can engage.
You could list any past successful collaborations here, if you didn't showcase them in the Technology Overview. If you don't have any case studies or past partnerships to share, you could consider offering companies the opportunity to test pilot your new facility in order to build case studies and a customer base.
9. Patents
Where relevant, share details of any outcomes from research partnerships that have resulted in patents being filed.