Steering committee

A steering committee is the group of senior managers, representing each partner organization and stakeholder group, that links those organizations to a research project and owns its major decisions.

How it's used in a university-industry collaboration

Stoppels, Bosch-Rekveldt, Mooi, and Bakker (Project Management Journal, 2026) describe the committee as the link between the permanent partner organizations and the temporary project, staffed by senior managers who each represent a stakeholder group. In a R&D project that usually means the sponsor's R&D lead, the department or center head, and whoever owns the budget on each side.

A typical committee meets quarterly, takes monthly status between meetings, sets direction and owns the Go/Kill/Hold/Recycle call at each gate. It's also the second stop in our default escalation path: one week to project leads, four weeks to the steering committee, eight weeks to executives.

Where this comes from

The definition follows Stoppels, Bosch-Rekveldt, Mooi and Bakker, Project Management Journal 57(4), 2026 (https://doi.org/10.1177/87569728251406593).

What Helikon does with it

Our Governance Charter template has a members table with each person's organization, title, and stakeholder group.