Whether you’re a born entrepreneur, or simply want to make a difference to society, using your research and expertise to build an industry partnership or commercial opportunity is often the best route to realising its full potential. 

At Imperial, popular ways of working with industry include research partnerships and consultancy projects with businesses, and the commercialisation of new inventions through licensing agreements and spinout companies. These offer valuable opportunities to make a real-world impact with your research.

At Imperial Enterprise, we support the College’s academics and research staff to work across the boundaries that separate universities and external organisations in the public and private sectors, and tackle the world’s most important challenges.

Given the urgent need for new science- and technology-backed solutions to societal challenges in areas such as health, sustainability and digital technologies, commercial collaboration is a valuable part of the academic toolkit – as well as a unique intellectual and creative challenge.

There are many different ways to engage with industry. Depending on which route you take, this activity can bring benefits to your own work, including new funding, a better understanding of how to make your research address practical challenges, and a higher profile for you and your team. And it can help you build relationships across a wider network that helps develop both your research and your career, creating a virtuous circle of career development and practical impact.

Our specialist teams in Imperial Enterprise offer personalised support, backed by a range of on-campus facilities and training programmes, to help empower you whatever stage you are at in your career or enterprising journey.