Industry-academia partnerships

In November 2011, more than 50 academic and business leaders came together for 4 days at the Sigtuna Foundation, near Stockholm, Sweden. They represented a broad range of disciplines, industries and countries with the common aim of promoting effective partnerships between academia and industry for the greater benefit of society.

The ICSU Committee on Freedom and Responsibility in the conduct of Science (CFRS) organised this meeting in partnership with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering. The discussion was diverse and rich and there was a strong sense that the status quo is unacceptable and that the need to develop a stronger and more productive relationship between academia and industry increasingly urgent.

Resulting from this meeting, a workshop report presents some of the issues on which a general agreement emerged, with the intention to stimulate further dialogue that will help develop and strengthen industry-academia relations that, in turn, will benefit society.

Complementing the workshop report, CFRS also produced an Advisory Note with a summary of some of the more important contributions and conclusions.