VIC & TAS Branch Technical Meeting

How to Build Long Lasting Collaborations

Source: RMIT

In early July, Materials Australia brought together materials experts from both industry and academia who have established successful cross-sector engagements. The second of the Branch’s virtual events was chaired by our new committee member Dr Rou Jun Toh (SEAM Postdoctoral Fellow). Speakers included Peter Voigt (Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Clean TeQ), Richard Taube (Australia Manager, University Programs at Ford Motor Company), Professor Madhu Bhaskaran (RMIT University), Professor Milan Brandt (RMIT University), Professor Peter Hodgson (Deakin University), Dr Cathy Foley (Chief Scientist at CSIRO), and Dr Kathie McGregor (Director, Active Integrated Matter Future Science Platform at CSIRO). Each speaker used aspects of their own career to highlight how academic and industry collaborations are built, and what the crucial factors are in making them successful.

Peter Voigt was our first speaker. He briefly outlined the history of CleanTeQ; how a small company, built to commercialise ion exchange resins, developed into a major entity valued at around $1 billion, with interests in mineral extraction, water treatment, batteries and energy. Richard Taube outlined how his career took him from Melbourne University to Daimler Chrysler, and then to Ford, working on body structure, from which he transitioned into innovation and university collaboration. Madhu Bhaskaran outlined how she had transitioned her career from that of an early career academic focused primarily on publications, to a professor, passionate about industrial engagement. She highlighted how her industry partners found her through her media releases, public forums and her LinkedIn posts – not through academic papers. Peter Hodgson outlined how he came from BHP and built up materials research at Deakin University, so that it has many industrial collaborations and startups. His do’s were to be interested in possible collaborators, and to take young researchers to client meetings. His don’ts were to not talk about money, but to focus on the partners’ problem and how to help overcome the problem. Cathy Foley outlined a successful and varied career at CSIRO, but one where the emphasis had always been on impact. She likened forming a partnership with marital prenuptials. In this early state, it was vital to sort out the roles of the partners and the ‘ownership’ of project outputs, such as IP and publications. She stressed the need to be generous in setting up partnerships, the value of building networks and having a focus on major issues. Kathie McGregor explained that the focus of Active Integrated Matter Future Science Platform was to work at the interface of materials science and the digital world. She highlighted how her career had always been focused on research with a purpose. Kathie emphasised that it is important to understand the value proposition for all partners, what each needed, how a business proposition is set out and time frames agreed. In her experience, working with early adopters is often more successful than technology followers. Milan Brandt completed a PhD in laser physics at Macquarie University prior to a varied career at the Department of Defence, CSIRO and RMIT. In each position, his focus has been on the application of laser technology, which has now morphed into additive manufacturing. His key advice was to listen to the customer. There followed an interesting Q&A session, skilfully chaired by Rou Jun. Peter Voigt emphasised that it is difficult for a company to judge exactly what level university research has reached in terms of technical readiness; his company frequently has to spend one to two years finishing research that academics thought was ready. Hodgson’s comments received an interesting reinforcement from the university side, with Brandt emphasising that it is very important to understand the problem that the company is actually trying to solve. It is vital to develop a collaborative approach to solve the problem; without one, the problem could be made more complex, as both companies and universities often do not understand both their own and their partners’ limitations Hodgson indicated that in a good relationship, education is two ways – the company educates academics and academics educate the company. However, this is limited in Australia as many companies do not have a technology transfer arm. Unfortunately, this leaves a gap, as Universities only develop a new idea to the proofof-concept stage, before industry commercialises it. US and Chinese companies normally have this technology transfer arm. Richard Taube emphasised that Ford linked its own well-established development arm to its well-established academic networks, for the benefit of the company. The panel then discussed the current crises – COVID-19 and climate change. Taube indicated that it was leading to a reset on our policy towards sovereign capability. Peter Voigt indicated that what we do now is “pretty crook” – we just dig up resources and send them offshore to be processed. This is not sustainable. Brandt indicated that if we were to rebuild sovereign capability, we would need government policy to show a constant and continuous commitment. McGregor expressed the opinion that COVID-19 may reset the agenda, so that we make what we need. Overall, the panellists emphasised that relationships needed to be long-term, and built on trust and an appreciation of the roles and needs of each party. The value propositions for each need to be understood, as well as the limitations of each party, and this can only be developed by a lot of discussion.