‘Collaborate’ comes from the Latin verb ‘collaborare’, ‘col’ meaning ‘together’ and ‘laborare’ meaning ‘to work’. So how is ‘working together’ through transdisciplinary partnership for positive change done? How are transformational strategic alliances initiated with companies and factored or ‘baked in’ from the outset? How can you integrate industry insights and input within your educational programmes most effectively? This chapter explores how 5th generation universities will learn the skills needed to achieve positive change for society, through alliances, at speed and scale. They do this by effectively developing and managing their alliances through alignment of priorities, by building capacity and combining flexibility and focus.

Collaborative, competitor and industry intelligence

Before 5th generation universities, whether in the Global North or Global South, can develop formal relationships with prospective industry allies, they will gather useful collaborative intelligence. How does your university gain intelligence about your competitive and collaborative environment, including both private and public sector innovation within your region? 5th generation universities will not only gather intelligence but also contribute to the creation of actionable insight for partners within their region including local government, community and industry stakeholders. Universities can engage with the branches of their respective rural, city, regional or state government responsible for economic growth, regeneration and innovation. Working with economic development units within government bodies is an effective way for universities to learn about regional skill requirements, ambitions, international links, and funding opportunities that will attract industry partners to their regions (see Figure 3.1).

Your university should have awareness of your immediate market opportunities including which corporate R&D labs, university-led accelerators, incubators and venture capital funders are operating in your area. How this is defined will vary, since a large research-intensive university may have a global brand, whereas a smaller, teaching-focused institution may have a more localised reach.

Alongside intelligence about university competitors, it is vital for 5th generation university corporate engagement teams to gain industry intelligence. A data-centric approach to industry intelligence should form part of your institution’s ‘foresight strategy’.