Our approach to each pairing ensures that all parties, from company to classroom, spend their time in productive and satisfying ways.
We start by connecting with university professors to identify opportunities for collaborative projects. Every semester we work with over 50 universities from across the world to put together project-based courses involving marketing, product development, research, and other topics.
Once we have a clear understanding of the course and its requirements and expectations, we offer the opportunity to current and prospective clients. We match classroom opportunities with company projects based on the goals of the project and the design and focus of the course.
We facilitate conversations between the professor and the client to clarify expectations and to discuss possible projects.
Once both the professor and the client agree on one or multiple projects for the class we sign a letter to confirm the collaboration.
The client visits the university classroom at the start of the semester to kick off the project and to discuss questions and ideas with the students. For projects with one participating team we may arrange for the initial meeting to be done virtually via a conference call if the client is not in the same city.
We design an appropriate model of interaction at the beginning of the class. The model depends on class size and structure as well as client availability. Typically the client is asked to meet with the students via conference call 3–5 times between the kick off and the final presentation.
The student team completes its semester-long project by giving a final presentation and report to the client in-person. Afterward the client is given the presentation, report, and all accompanying research.
All projects are kept confidential. The final results are never published unless the client chooses. Every collaboration is built on the premise that all deliverables are for the use of the client only.
We believe that every successful collaboration should embody the following characteristics
The participating company, the professor and the students should have clarity on the goals, expectations, process and responsibilities of the collaboration.
The project scope should match the goals, structure and focus of the curriculum.
The outcome and deliverables of the collaboration should have a real impact on the business goals of the participating company.