Partnership Satisfaction Impact Survey Final

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Partnership Satisfaction & Impact Survey

FITT

(Fosterring Interregional Exchange in ICT Technology Transfer)

2 | Partnership Satisfaction & Impact Survey

Partnership Management

Partnership management is essential to assure the best relationship and cooperation,

business or research, between TTO’s and industrial partners.

Relationship Management with partners and customers enables to:

• Have more efficient exploitation of the research results

• Create mutual trust, long-lasting and positive relationships

• Pave the way for future transfer opportunities

Successful partnership management brings mutual benefits:

• Identify opportunities

• Stay aligned to market needs/expectations

• Identify & solve specific problems


Partnership Management

This practice is supported by three main pillars:


The satisfaction survey

Satisfaction survey impacts the organization at different levels:

The organization’s culture

The internal processes

The main objective is to identify sources of dissatisfaction and to initiate improvement

actions with specific indicators that allow a close follow-up.

Hints:

Conducting a “mirror” survey is strongly recommended to compare the perception of

partners’ satisfaction with the staff’s point of view Identify the gap between internal

and external perception and initiate actions to reduce it

Outsourcing the survey could overcome impartiality issues

Satisfaction survey is a tool that shows how the Public Research Organization is perceived by clients and partners


The satisfaction survey process

The survey process:

1. Select indicators according to what you want to measure and your objectives assure the follow-up of the indicators over time

2. Prepare the questionnaire according to the communication channel and reduce the bias

3. Segment your clients and partners before picking up the sample All the relationship with them must be closed at the start of the survey

4. Run the survey by phone (for instance) complemented with face to face interviews with clients and partners expressing a high degree of dissatisfaction

5. Process the qualitative and quantitative data, stress strengths and suggest improvements

6. Disseminate result across the organization


The impact of research results

Impact Assessment is a “tricky” practice to put in place due to the choice of the

relevant indicators

A long time span is very often required to assess the impact of the research results to

be considered as reliable: more than 5 years in most cases

It is difficult to isolate the impact of a transferred result from other organizational

activities, decisions, etc.

The impact of the results must only be assessed after their transfer

Impact assessment is a tool to enable an in-depth evaluation of impact of public research and transfer activities on economic, environmental and social fields.


Impact survey: some indicators

Category of impacts Example of indicatorsImpact on economy, technology and

commercialization• Product/Service/Process/ Creation/Improvement• Cost-savings• Research Methods Creation/Improvement• Patent Applications

Impact on knowledge, expertise and human capital

• Expertise strengthening• Research Methods Improvement• Scientific Impacts: scientific publications, conference

and seminar presentationImpact on networking and social

capital• Network creation• Domestic networks, Global networks• Organizational and social innovations

Impact on decision making and public discourse

• Participation in legislative and strategic planning• Norms, Regulation and standards

Impact on social and physical environment

• Material/Resources and/or Energy Consumption Reduction

• Regional development and growth Promotion• Safety Promotion


Stakeholders

Satisfaction survey:

Quality service (2 full-time persons) Coordinate the survey, present the results to the staff, recommend and engage actions

Top and middle Management Communicate the results inside the five CRP Henri Tudor’s departments. Disseminate the results among the research teams

CRP Henri Tudor’s Board of directors Presentation of the results and recommendations

Partners and clients feedback on the survey results and the actions engaged

Impact assessment:

Project management office (1 part-time person) Define the process and coordinate the related activities

Other potential stakeholders:

Governmental organisms : Ministry of the high education and the research, Ministry of the economy and the Research National Fund (FNR) Set the performance contract terms as a function of impact achievements


PRO’s & CON’s

PROs

•Remain aligned with the clients/partners and market expectations

•Engage the organization in a constant self-improvement process

•Assess the impact of the transferred results Realize the real value of the PRO in its region or country

CONs

•Satisfaction indicators are in most cases too global do not providing specific feedback to the teams or individuals

•These practices impact the culture and process of the whole organization Big changes require to be managed carefully


Rationale

Use the Satisfaction survey if :

Your clients’ and partners’ satisfaction is part of your mission or objectives

You mainly provide solutions to real problems and need feedbacks from the market, clients or partners

You assess the performance of your organization in a key performance indicators (KPI) basis

You are ISO 9001 certified and you have to fulfill the quality requirements

Use the Impact assessment if:

You have to express before your stakeholders how valuable your organization is for your region/country

You want to assess the real performance of the organization and its alignment with its mission


Outcomes

Evaluation of the real contribution of the satisfaction survey requires a longer time horizon at

the current state it is too early to claim their real contributions of this practice

Impact Assessment of the transferred research results has not been successfully implemented yet

(at CRP Henri Tudor) Rethinking in progress

Partnership management requires time to see tangible results: start the process, monitor it and

above all…be patient


Lessons Learned


Suggested Readings

Link to bibliography

“Responsible Partnering. Joining Forces in a World of Open Innovation. A Guide to Better Practices for

Collaborative Research and Knowledge Transfer between Science and Industry” - Guidelines published

by European University Association, European Association of Research and Technology Organizations,

European Industrial Research Management Association, ProTon Europe

“University-Industry Research Relations in the United States” - by Bronwyn H. Hall

Link to relevant websites

http://www.innovation.gov.uk/lambertagreements/

http://www.industrie.gouv.fr/guidepropintel/outils_contractuels/contrat_de_consortium.htm

Partnership Satisfaction Impact Survey Final

Documents

Transcript of Partnership Satisfaction Impact Survey Final