Collaboration is key
Lorraine Skelton from OPAIC (Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus) has contributed to a new book on bridging the gap between academia and business.
In today's fast-paced and ever-changing world, the relationship between academic institutions and businesses is becoming more crucial than ever. From Purpose to Impact: The University and Business Partnership, edited by Nicholas O'Regan, delves into the best practices for fostering successful academic-business partnerships on a large scale. As a contributor to the book, Lorraine Skelton joins over 40 senior business scholars and leaders across the globe. Her chapter is appropriately titled, “Collaboration: Why Getting it Right is the Key to Academic Success.”
Collaborating with peers has many advantages for academics beyond the sharing of knowledge. Pooling resources can enable researchers to tackle larger, more complex studies. Working across disciplines increases the chance that new, creative ideas will arise. Academic collaboration can also help secure research funding and amplify the impact of findings once the research is released. Collaborative teams can make faster progress, publish more and gain wider recognition for their work. Collaboration can also extend to business and industry, giving academics access to more resources and increasing their opportunities to create impactful changes in society.
From Purpose to Impact looks at how innovative partnerships are redefining how academic institutions interact with the business community. One of its key themes is that academics should be the primary drivers of these external relationships. Lorraine Skelton highlights this need for academics to actively seek out collaborations. She stresses the unique skills academics bring to partnerships, from rigour in research to contacts with networks for dissemination such as conferences and publications. Academics can offer industry cutting-edge expertise grounded in current thinking in their fields.
Skelton’s chapter, like the book as a whole, emphasises that for academics to remain relevant and influential, they must develop and nurture engagements with business. Academics should move beyond traditional research roles and embrace the opportunities presented by these partnerships. By doing so, they can leverage their expertise to solve real-world problems, innovate, and contribute to societal well-being. Fostering business-academia partnerships can help create a future where research is not just confined to academic journals but is actively shaping the world we live in.