Partner Discovery and Selection

Who it's for

On the university side, corporate relations and sponsored programs staff who field inbound interest, technology transfer associates looking for a development partner for a disclosure, and PIs who want a sponsor for a capability their lab already has. On the company side, open innovation and technology scouting leads, R&D managers with a technical problem that needs an academic group, and alliance managers who inherited a partner list. It runs single-side or as a mixed room when both sides want to pick their next project together.

The problem it fixes

Partner selection in most organizations depends on who happened to email, who sat next to whom at a conference, or which professor an engineer knew in graduate school. Faculty in our primary research said their industry connections "happen by chance and are personal". Chance works often enough that nobody fixes it, but it leaves the fit question (does this partner want what we have, and can both sides deliver?) unanswered until the project is running. This is one reason Pertuzé and colleagues (2010) found that only about 20% of the industry-university projects in their three-year study showed an observable effect on the company. This workshop replaces your accidental portfolio with a written profile, a structured search, and a scorecard your team can apply the same way every time.

Agenda

Four blocks of about 45 minutes.

• 0:00 to 0:45. Debrief of your Partner Evaluation Scorecard results. Each participant scored one or two real candidates in the pre-work. We compare scores, find the criteria the team disagrees on and calibrate the weights to your situation.
• 0:45 to 1:30. The profile. We write a one-paragraph statement of what you're offering or seeking, in the other side's language, and a short list of what a strong partner must have and must not have.
• 1:30 to 2:15. The structured search. Using sources your team already has access to (publications, patents, conference programs, funded-award databases, internal contacts), we run the method live, build a long list and cut it.
• 2:15 to 3:00. Scoring and first approach. The short list goes through the calibrated scorecard, the team ranks it and decides who makes the first contact, how, and by when.

What you bring

• Your completed Partner Evaluation Scorecard results for one or two candidates
• A technology, capability, or technical problem you want a partner for
• Whoever decides which partnerships get pursued and signs off on the first approach

What you leave with

• A calibrated scorecard with weights your team agreed on
• A written partner profile you can send to colleagues and intermediaries
• A ranked short list of candidates, with the search sources recorded so it can be repeated
• An owner and a date for the first approach to the top candidate

Included instrument and pre-work

The Partner Evaluation Scorecard is issued at booking and completed two weeks before the session, so the first block starts from your own scoring of real candidates rather than an example. Each participant scores the same one or two candidates independently, and the spread between scores can be the most consequential thing we see all session, because it shows which criteria the team has never defined. We'll include free industry need-finding tools with the evaluation scorecard to support the profile build.

Logistics

Capped at 12 participants: J. Richard Hackman's team research found that coordination and candor erode once a working group climbs into the double digits (Hackman, interviewed in Harvard Business Review, 2009), and a working session needs everyone contributing, so larger teams add breakouts or split into additional sessions. Virtual by default, onsite available with travel billed at cost at federal per-diem rates. Series pricing is 15% off three or more workshops. We schedule within one business day of booking.

Frequently asked questions

Can we run it for a mixed university and company group?

Yes, and it can be even more effective this way. Both sides hear the same debrief in one room, see where their results already differ, and make decisions that would otherwise take months of meetings.

What if we already own the tool?

The instrument's price is not deducted from the workshop fee. We use your existing results as the pre-work, and you keep the second license for a second team or partnership.

Does the session use the Helikon platform?

Our platform is designed for this exercise, but not required. We run the search method on whatever sources your team has, and the scorecard works on paper or in a spreadsheet. If you want to try the Helikon platform's Partner Search afterwards, a free account at app.helikonlabs.com provides everything you need.