Unis to business: tap in to our talent and expertise

UNIVERSITIES will today make a bold bid for more companies to partner with them on everything from research and business innovation through to snapping up the best graduate talent.

Making a ‘business case to business’ to entice more firms to collaborate with universities, the sector’s peak body will unveil an ambitious pitch at the National Press Club today. 

Universities Australia Chair Professor Margaret Gardner will tell business leaders that Australian universities are equipped to help them solve some of their most complex business challenges.

“Australia’s universities are open for business and we’re here to help,” she said.

“If you have a complex business challenge you haven’t been able to crack, come talk to an Australian university about how we can work together to solve it.”

"By tapping into university talent, business can source new ideas, get the jump on early stage research and cut the time it takes to bring new products to market."

New modelling by Cadence Economics for Universities Australia to be released today also confirms that the 16,000 companies already partnering with universities derive $10.6 billion in revenue from their collaborations.

And their return on investment is $4.50 for every dollar invested into collaborative research with a university.

Professor Gardner will write to the heads of the three major business peak bodies asking them to help spread the word in corporate Australia about the strong returns to business from these partnerships.

“If we could lift the number of firms with formal collaborations with universities from the current 16,000 to 24,000 companies, it would add another $10 billion a year to our GDP,” she said.

“And that would also lift our collaboration rate to the level of global innovation powerhouses such as Israel and the US.”

Along with the new modelling, Universities Australia will today launch Clever Collaborations: The Strong Business Case for Partnering with Universities.

The publication showcases 35 case studies of businesses, community organisations and governments that are partnering with universities to solve complex challenges together.

Clever Collaborations also includes a list of key university contacts to make it easier for businesses to explore collaboration opportunities.

Download a copy of Clever Collaborations report here

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