Networking is crucial for establishing industrial collaboration

A natural course of events when each of two partners has something the other one can use is to collaborate with each other. This is what Agroecology does with the industry and wants to do even more of – in keeping with the ambitions of Science and Technology.

Science and Technology would like to increase its collaboration with the industry. One important reason for this is that funding bodies increasingly require industrial partners in research projects. One of the steps that AGRO has taken in this direction is the establishment of an industry committee. Senior Researcher Birte Boelt, CROP, is the chairman of the committee, which has one member from each of AGRO’s sections.

You will hear more about the industry committee in AGRO Biweekly in the near future. For the time being, Birte Boelt gave a presentation about industrial collaboration at the junior VIP meeting held in Foulum on 21 September 2015.

She mentioned several examples of how Science and Technology has facilities or knowhow that industrial partners find attractive and that we can share with them in exchange for what they have to offer, such as funding, product development or marketing. We can offer, for example:

• New and expensive equipment
• Complicated setup and testing facilities
• Computer programming capacity
• Genomic selection
• New variations of disease-resistant wheat

The research results that AGRO produces are closely related to what farmers need and can use. It is therefore important that our knowledge is applied and that is does not stop with the peer review process. Collaborating with the industry can play an important role here.

A challenge lies in how to communicate with each other about what we do and what we are capable of. In this regard it is crucial to meet potential industrial partners where they are, in other words to build up a good network. It is important to get to know the industry and their interests, goals and way of thinking.