Glossary
Glossary of research partnership terms
Plain definitions of the terms university-industry research partnerships run on, from decision rights and stage-gates to the alliance manager.
- Alliance managerAn alliance manager is the person who runs a partnership day to day, keeping the partners aligned and raising problems early. What the evidence says.
- Decision rightsDecision rights are the written assignment of who makes each class of decision in a research partnership, who is consulted first and who is told after.
- Escalation protocolAn escalation protocol is a written rule for how long an unresolved issue may sit at one level of a project before it moves to the next, and to whom.
- MilestoneA milestone is a significant point or event in a project, with an owner and a date. What it means to a PI, to a sponsor, and in a joint gate review.
- RACIA RACI chart records, for each decision in a project, who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. How partnerships fill one in at kickoff.
- Stage-gateStage-gate is a project structure of stages separated by gates where a review decides whether work continues, stops, waits, or goes back. For research too.
- Steering committeeA steering committee is the group of senior managers from each partner organization that governs a research project and holds its major decisions.