Business liaison and collaboration

LSE, and the social sciences in general, have the capability to deliver value
to business.

They can particularly help you understand the cultural, political and social forces impacting on areas such as technology, human resources, trade, international relations, security and global governance. 

The social sciences can offer a wealth of applied methodologies and analytical tools to support business practice. There are a variety of ways in which collaboration can occur between LSE and businesses:

• Research partnerships
• Use of existing intellectual property
• Consultancy and customised corporate executive education (see
  LSE Enterprise Limited for more information)
• Graduate recruitment (see: Careers Service for more information)
• Technology transfer

Research partnerships

A research partnership with LSE offers partners the opportunity to benefit from knowledge exchange with one of the world's leading social science universities. A partnership that enables knowledge exchange can help a business to develop and grow by accessing the wealth of knowledge and expertise in LSE and, in turn, promotes a way for firms to encourage and develop innovation, a fundamental contributor to growth.

We recognise that each company is unique and has individual needs, so there is no set procedure or timeframe in which a research partnership may be developed. We involve corporate partners fully in the programme development process, premised on established parameters of academic independence, and they play an active role in project governance. We agree a contractually guaranteed set of deliverables for research collaborations, and clearly define management and budgetary responsibilities and objectives.

Benefits of a research partnership include:

• sponsorship/ branding;
• quantitative or qualitative social scientific input into specific business processes;
• exchange of perspectives on a common subject;
• information and/ or analyses on business environments including regulatory and policy frameworks;
• the opportunity to input into a joint research agenda; and
• relationship development.

We have successfully developed and maintained a number of research partnerships. See Examples of research partnerships|. 

Use of existing intellectual property (IP)

Existing IP is disseminated through a variety of channels, which distribute and publish academic publications or research output generated as part of ongoing research strategies. Some examples are: direct exploitation in economics, financial markets, operational research, information systems, and industrial relations.

Technology transfer

Technology transfer is applicable to LSE in a wide sense.  Active transfer of organisational and analytic 'technology' (in the form of methodologies and research tools), predominately but not exclusively towards public sector, policy and international organisations, and the financial markets, occurs in all research areas.

There are a range of examples of technology transfer at LSE. Some examples are listed below:

• Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS)  
• Catalyze - helps organisations to simplify and make complex decisions
• Duke Corporate Education and LSE Enterprise Joint Venture -
  LSE Enterprise Limited has formed a joint venture with Duke Corporate Education to provide specialised custom executive education aimed at the business needs of companies throughout the world.