Smarter R&D partnerships, faster innovation.
Helikon Labs helps universities and companies build the R&D partnerships that move discoveries into markets. A proprietary framework, a collaboration platform, and strategic advisory, grounded in peer-reviewed research.
Free plan · No credit card required
Bridge the gap between discovery and impact
Turn academic research into commercial outcomes through structured matching, coordinated collaboration workflows, and evidence-based governance.
Who it’s for
Built for every side of the partnership
Researchers
University faculty, PIs, and lab researchers seeking industry partners.
Industry & tech scouts
Corporate R&D and innovation leads sourcing university partners and talent.
Research offices & TTOs
Tech-transfer officers, deans, and program managers orchestrating partnerships.
Students & postdocs
Graduate students, postdocs, and emerging researchers building their network.
Investors & advisors
Consultants, advisors, and investors engaging with the research ecosystem.
The problem
Why R&D partnerships stall
Most research never reaches market. Most negotiations take longer than they should. Most ideas never make the trip from lab to customer.
Collaboration models
Engagement types the platform supports
Sponsored Research
Industry funds a defined research program at a university in exchange for findings, IP rights, or options.
Commercial & Joint Development
Co-development of products, prototypes, or services with shared commercialization interest.
Licensing
Technology transfer through license agreements for existing IP, patents, or know-how.
Advisory & Talent
Consulting, advisory board service, fractional roles, and talent placement between universities and industry.
Student Programs
Internships, capstone projects, sponsored theses, and graduate fellowships tied to industry problems.
Plus four more: Investment, Non-Profit & Social Impact, Facilities & Resources, and Knowledge & Standards. See all nine collaboration models →
Built on primary research
“Catalyzing Strategic Partnerships: Digital Transformation of University–Industry Collaborations for Synchronized Innovation”
Flowers & Roadman (2024). R&D Management Conference, Stockholm.
The Helikon Method
Match, Unite, Steward, Evaluate: a framework for the whole partnership lifecycle
Each phase is anchored to peer-reviewed evidence and maps directly to what you do in the platform.
Match
Customer discovery, IP assessment, technology scouting, partner matching. In 618 university–industry research collaborations, Hemmert, Bstieler and Okamuro (2014) traced how trust forms through strong ties, partner reputation, contracts and innovation champions.
Source: Hemmert, Bstieler and Okamuro, Technovation, 2014
In the platform
Find the right partners and technologies.
Unite
Solution design, funding structure, contract negotiation. Sponsored research agreements take months to negotiate. Standard master-agreement terms reduce that legal friction (UIDP).
Source: UIDP 1-Minute Survey, 2022 (n=64)
In the platform
Structure the collaboration that works for both sides.
Steward
Execution, governance, information sharing, risk management. Firms with a dedicated alliance function report about 70% alliance success, compared with about 40% for firms without one (Kale and Singh, 2009).
Source: Kale and Singh, Academy of Management Perspectives, 2009
In the platform
Run the partnership with governance built in.
Evaluate
Market transition, customer acquisition, post-mortem. Licensing of university and nonprofit inventions contributed up to $1.9T in U.S. gross industrial output from 1996 to 2020 (BIO and AUTM, 2022).
Source: BIO and AUTM, 2022: up to $1.9T in U.S. gross industrial output, 1996 to 2020
In the platform
Capture value, close out, and set up the next one.
The platform
Everything you need to find, win, and run research partnerships
One workspace for academic and corporate researchers, from the first search to a signed, stewarded collaboration.
Map a technology area
Search researchers, organizations, publications, and patents in one place, with faceted filters, ranking that matches on meaning as well as keywords, and rich profile pages for every researcher and organization.
Find a research partner from an abstract
Paste an abstract or describe a problem and get the researchers and organizations whose work fits, each with an AI read on where you overlap and how a collaboration could work.
Be found, and get matched back
Your dashboard surfaces partner, project, and funding matches drawn from your profile, each with explainable sub-scores for expertise overlap, recency, and impact.
Funding matched to your research
Browse and filter live federal funding opportunities, or get open calls ranked against your research profile so the right money finds you.
Manage an R&D collaboration project
Run projects with milestone tracking, file sharing, and threaded messaging, and record NDA, IRB, and contract status on each project. The Partnership Pipeline board for your deal flow is on Pro and above.
Message and meet
Reach collaborators in-app and schedule meetings with calendar invites emailed to every participant. No separate scheduling tool to wire up.
Browse technology areas
Each page counts the researchers, publications and U.S. patents the Helikon Research Graph holds on one technology, shows who's working on it, and gives you a problem statement to run in Partner Search.
- Additive manufacturing
- Energy storage
- Drug delivery
- Biomanufacturing
- PFAS detection and replacement
- Antimicrobial resistance
- Clean hydrogen
- Chemically recyclable plastics
- Separation membranes
- Semiconductor fab and packaging
- Carbon capture and conversion
- Solar cells
- Robotics
- Autonomous vehicles
- Coatings and adhesives
- Fuel cells
- Bio-based materials and renewable feedstocks
- Cell and gene therapy manufacturing
Ready to find your next research partner?
Start free with unlimited searches and a match score on every result. Upgrade for 12 matches a week and the Partnership Pipeline.
No credit card required