Tony Boccanfuso, PhD, President and CEO of the University-Industry Demonstration Project (UIDP) — a membership-based organization that fosters collaboration between industry and universities to optimize research outcomes — spoke with Cure about the value of fruitful partnerships between academic institutions and companies.
With an impressive more than 30-year career focused on research and innovation, Boccanfuso has helped manage various initiatives between academic, government, and private sector organizations, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Cure: What is UIDP and how does it work to accomplish its mission?
Boccanfuso: UIDP is a global network of large companies and universities. We're most interested in the process of how parties can come together. In addition to academic-corporate engagement, governments and private philanthropy groups have also been seeking partnerships with the potential to have an impact on society. The goal is to achieve a better return on investment from these kinds of relationships. UIDP tries to remove barriers and find new ways to collaborate, and hopefully that will benefit society.
Cure: What are some of the greatest challenges affecting academic-industry collaborations?
Boccanfuso: They often come down to mission and money. The missions of companies and the missions of universities are distinct. Universities may be uncomfortable working with companies because of what they're doing, but academics don't make products and services. Working with the private sector is extremely important if you want to have an impact. It's also important for academics to partner not only with large companies, but also with startups.
Academic researchers also need lots of money to run their labs. Companies bring in money, but also know-how, facilities, and materials. Working with large companies can mean so much more than just getting a check through a transaction. It's about building a partnership and striving for longer-term relationships that aren't just transactional in nature.
Cure: How do you measure the impact of the intangible elements of an academic-industry relationship beyond the financial aspects?
Boccanfuso: Many people think about technology transfer being an idea that results in a patent that is then licensed. But the greatest value of technology transfer includes the people involved and their knowledge. Companies have really talented researchers. Universities have really talented researchers at all levels, from students to faculty members. If you could marry the best minds in industry with the best minds in academia, you'll get results you couldn't achieve with the perspectives of an academic or a company alone. When industry researchers publish with academic researchers, for example, the citation impact is much higher because they bring in complementary perspectives.
Cure: Can you address the importance of science benefiting society?
Boccanfuso: There is a lot of focus on the societal impact of scientific collaborations. People, especially younger people, want to be sure that the time, money, and energy they invest are going to improve society — whether it's creating clean hydrogen products in the life sciences or new pharmaceutical products or medical devices that lead to better health. It's about improving the human condition.
Cure: What advice would you give to institutions looking to strengthen their collaborative ties with external partners?
Boccanfuso: If you want to affect culture, it's important that leadership shares their goals and infuses those messages down through the ranks. At many institutions, unfortunately, that isn't the case. I don't think you can change culture from the bottom up. I encourage CEOs, CTOs, and university presidents to share their vision about why it's important to partner and how it may improve the human condition.
Cure: Can you address the value of in-person interactions, like those we have at Cure, in strengthening academic-industry collaborations?
Boccanfuso: The Cure facility oozes of collaboration. You cannot discount the value of getting people together through serendipity. Engineered serendipity is so important for achieving things you can't do through email or a video call. You cannot overstate the benefit of being in person.