Collaborative Research

Collaborative research can lead to faster research results and developments that meet the needs of the market. With this type of research, the University is a genuine partner of the company.

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ollaborative or partnership-based research aims to orient research work in a balanced and interactive relationship between universities and companies, with a view to accelerating the development of products or services and their launch on the market. Today, there are several funding patterns offered for putting together such projects, both within Wallonia and in Europe.

Types of collaborations:

• Consulting: Generally one-off, resulting in an opinion.
• Expertise: Intellectual service, generally one-off, offered on the basis of a quote and resulting in an expert report.
• Test, control and analysis: Service requiring equipment, often according to international standards and a predetermined and available pricing, the deliverable being a test report. For test campaigns, a quote is useful.
• One-off study: Bilateral study or service contract centred on the problem submitted by the company. Can also be done as part of a Master's thesis, or a student internship, and overseen by the department.
• Intermediate-range project: Project of a period of two to four years, implementing a young researcher overseen by a team, in an approach above all else scientific; it can easily be part of, for example, PhD research, financed by the government or by the company (First, ...) The deliverable is a results report, which may involved intellectual property.
• Project with significant scope: More significant project involving several researchers, several teams, even several universities. The complexity of the setting up and management of these projects requires a constant specific monitoring by the R&I Department, notably for the establishment of the consortium agreement. The deliverable is a report containing the results and the stakes of intellectual property.

WALInnov programme

The WALInnov programme is intended for universities, with business involvement. These projects concern basic research (TRL 2-4) oriented in view of potential value. The leadership comes from the university, with the involvement of several universities and a company.

They have a range of three to four years and aim to have a structuring effect. Two calls per year are organised.

Outside company interventions, complementary financing generally comes from the Wallonia Region or from the European Union.