Cure, Google Gemini
Overview
A tech-transfer leader from the University of Minnesota outlines six actionable tips to help you secure the right industry partner—from defining your needs to leveraging your network and TTO.
For many researchers, a strong industry partnership is no longer optional, but a must-have bridge between promising science and real-world impact. With federal research dollars shrinking and commercialization pathways growing more complex, industry can offer critical funding, development expertise, and access to markets.
To help researchers navigate that landscape, Leza Besemann, CLP, Associate Director of Marketing and Corporate Research Partnerships at the University of Minnesota’s Technology Commercialization office, shared practical guidance on how to identify the right partner and position your innovation for success.
Determine What You Need From a Partner
Before you begin searching for a partner, first decide if you are looking to them to help with funding for more research or licensing to commercialize your innovation. Knowing the stage of development you are in will help you figure this out. For early-stage discoveries, a partner with strong expertise in research and development might be the best fit. If your innovation is in later stages, you might be better off with a partner that has in-depth regulatory and commercialization capabilities.
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Tap Into Your People Skills
While your innovation might be extraordinary, how you come across to potential partners matters more. “If you have a researcher who’s not cooperative and wants to be difficult, it will be very hard to commercialize their technology,” said Besemann. “If you have a researcher who’s really passionate, wants to work with industry, wants to see their invention make it to market, they are the ones who are successful.”
While this may come easier to researchers with some business background, she said it’s possible for innovators with no business background to learn how to tap into their people skills. “They can learn it and figure it out quickly even though it’s often a little bit outside of what they get taught when they’re getting their PhD or when they’re early in their career as a professor,” said Besemann. Asking other innovators or your technology transfer office (TTO) for guidance on how to practice conversation skills is a good place to start.
Keep the Science Light
An elevator pitch is a short, impactful summary of your discovery that is intended to spark interest in potential partners. In your pitch, avoid going too deep into the science.
“The whole idea of having an elevator pitch is that in a couple minutes, you need to explain what your invention is, why it’s important, and why it’s valuable,” said Besemann. She spends a lot of time teaching researchers how to fine-tune their pitch. “Academic researchers like to go really, really fast, and most of the time the folks they’re talking to aren’t the super technical experts of the company who are going to make these decisions to license,” Besemann said.
Her office suggests researchers include the following in a one-minute pitch to potential partners:
Problem solved
Brief description (non-confidential)
Advantages over current solutions
Development stage
Market potential
Applications
Intellectual property (IP) protection status
Your specific request
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Use Your University’s Tech Transfer Office
If your research is being conducted at a university, the technology transfer office (TTO) or industry liaison office is an excellent resource. For the path to licensing intellectual property, including patents and copyright related to biotech and healthcare innovation, a lot of research and development is needed from a commercial partner. “Oftentimes, they have to invest quite a bit of money, especially if it’s a pharmaceutical. So we’re looking for a commercial partner that sees commercial opportunity in the innovation and is willing to invest in developing it and bringing it to market,” said Besemann.
TTOs can help market discoveries by networking with companies they have worked with before and know are interested in similar innovations. They may also hold networking events for potential partners and innovators to meet. Besemann said many large pharma companies have open innovation portals where they post areas of research and innovation they are interested in and announce requests for proposals (RFPs) or funding opportunities relevant to their research needs. Online platforms and databases like Halo also connect academia with industry.
“The researcher who developed an invention isn’t necessarily responsible for finding that commercial partner,” said Besemann. “We’ll reach out to a whole bunch of companies that we think could potentially be interested in the technology and see if we can get them to express interest and then we enter into a licensed negotiation.”
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Lean on Your Existing Network
Many times, the best leads for commercial partners come from existing connections that researchers have. “Historically, that’s been true across most universities,” said Besemann. Turning to people you have connected with in the scientific community is a great way to find potential leads. Make a list of those you met at conferences and scientific meetings, such as BIO International Convention, as well as people you worked with or conducted research with. “Some of your connections may now work at companies that might be interested in your technology,” said Besemann.
She suggested continuing to build your network by:
Going to industry conferences and events
Participating in consortium meetings
Using LinkedIn
Reaching out to people serving on college and department advisory boards
Connecting with alumni working in the same field
Sharing your discovery on social platforms can bring about traction too. Besemann said if your university’s tech comm department has created a non-confidential summary, post it on your research group website and networking sites like LinkedIn, X, and other social media platforms.
A sample post on X her department shares with researchers is:
"Our lab developed a new approach to diagnosing early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, now available for license! Check it out! (publication link here) (Tech Comm marketing summary link here). #UMNinvents #TechTransfer #UMN #CureAD"
Search Matchmaking Platforms and Programs
Some organizations have matchmaking programs or services that can help connect researchers with industry partners. A few to consider looking into include:
NIH REACH / I-Corps programs
CIMIT Accelerator for medtech
MassBio
State biotech councils
