Industry Partner Engagement

---
name: industry-partner-engagement
description: "Bring industry partners into commercialisation early so the product and business logic stay grounded in reality."
---

# Industry Partner Engagement

## Purpose

Bring industry partners into commercialisation early so the product and
business logic stay grounded in reality.

## Based on

the owner's published commercialisation guide (owner, 2025). Chapter
"Engaging Industry Early" (pp. 57-59).

- Perkmann et al. (2013) — academic engagement (joint research, consulting,
  industry contracts) builds relational capital
- Robin & Schubert (2013) — university-industry collaboration builds trust
  and credibility with investors and customers
- TenU working group (UK): "weave industry expertise into each stage of
  proof-of-concept funding"

## Method

1. Set up an industry focus group or advisory panel as early as the research
   stage — gather feedback on the prototype, standards, and customer
   requirements.
2. Invite experienced industry people as advisors to fill technical,
   regulatory, and market-knowledge gaps.
3. Seek pilot environments and data from industry partners — beta testing
   provides invaluable validation and can give access to specialised
   equipment.
4. Consider shared IP/patents with an industry partner — research shows this
   correlates with a higher spin-out formation rate.
5. Use early industry partners later as pilot customers, distribution
   partners, or investors — a win-win setup that ties potential customers
   into the development process from the start.
6. Weigh bringing in an experienced industry person as an interim CEO or
   board member if the team lacks business expertise.
7. Remember: an early industry connection builds credibility with investors
   and creates a network of advocates even before market entry.

## Gotchas

- Step 4 (shared IP/patents with an industry partner) correlates with a
  higher spin-out formation rate, but it also creates a shared-ownership
  question this skill doesn't resolve — align on IP ownership via
  `ip-disclosure-and-ownership-check` before committing a partner to shared
  IP, not after.
- Step 5 rolls "pilot customer," "distribution partner," and "investor"
  into one relationship — treating a single industry contact as all three
  at once can create an undisclosed conflict of interest; each role needs
  to be made explicit, not assumed from general goodwill.
- Step 1's advisory panel/focus group happens "as early as the research
  stage," which can mean showing a prototype to outsiders before the formal
  invention disclosure required by `ip-disclosure-and-ownership-check` —
  use an NDA and confirm disclosure status first, or the feedback session
  itself can jeopardize patentability.
- This skill explicitly does not assess a partner's reliability or fit
  (see "does NOT do") — one enthusiastic industry advisor should not be
  read as market validation; that requires the broader testing in
  `research-opportunity-recognition`.
- Step 6 frames bringing in an interim CEO/board member as something to
  "weigh," not a default move — doing it before the founding team has
  settled roles can preempt decisions that belong in
  `academic-entrepreneur-role-choice` and `founding-team-design-and-agreements`.

## What this skill does NOT do

- Does not find or contact partners on your behalf.
- Does not assess a specific partner's reliability or fit — it structures
  what kind of partners to seek and at what stage.

## Continue from here

- Next in this pack: `../academic-entrepreneur-role-choice/SKILL.md` — Choose
  your own role in a spin-out (full-time founder, scientific advisor,
  part-time) and manage balancing an academic career with entrepreneurship.
- Pack's shared guardrails: `../../CLAUDE.md`
- Overview of the full journey: `../commercialisation-journey-roadmap/SKILL.md`

## References

- `../../references/case-studies.md` — 7 spin-out examples from different
  industries and regions
- `../../references/terminology.md` — the handbook's glossary
- `../../references/sources.md` — the handbook's own source references
- `../../CLAUDE.md` — the pack's shared guardrails