The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that, when faced with a critical challenge, academia, industry, and governments can achieve remarkable outcomes. By focusing on a common goal rather than intellectual property rights, royalty rates, indemnification, or other cross-sector collaboration challenges, strategic partnerships can develop solutions for global problems like hunger, health and wellbeing, clean water, affordable and clean energy, and other sustainability goals that require scientific discovery and research-based solutions.
No single sector has all the resources required to tackle these global grand challenges alone. This session examine the essentials of partnering across government-university-industry sectors and the benefits of multi-sector partnerships to accelerate innovation and technology development:
- Mutual trust and integrity as the foundation for partnership;
- The aim for long-term, strategic engagement rather than short-term results;
- Interests that align with the mission and vision all parties bring to the table; and
- Streamlining administrative processes so research can move forward rapidly.
Speakers will also examine elements of successful cross-sector partnerships with high-yield results and present a case study on the Structural Genomics Consortium, demonstrating how public-private partnerships that cross borders can create and maintain a sense of urgency to produce research-based solutions. This session will also offer a high-level overview of key findings from a convening of research leadership from around the world on ways to build high-impact, cross-sector teams that combine the best minds, facilities, and operational practices to accelerate achieving needed outcomes that are not possible by researchers acting in isolation.