GERAD’s team of analysts serves as a link between our members and our industrial partners. This team provides support in setting up the financial, operational and monitoring structure of collaborative research projects.

The degree to which a team is involved in a project naturally depends on the willingness of the stakeholders, the nature and size of the project and the budget available. On the university side, the team helps our members direct a large part of their efforts towards research. On the industrial side, the team helps demystify the relationship as well as the conduct of research projects with university partners, and provides results that are easier to integrate into an industrial environment.

The relationship that industry develops with the university sector can be structured in several different ways, from a direct consulting contract with a given researcher to a research project involving several researchers and students over several years. The structure chosen has an impact on funding opportunities and costs associated with the research. The section on Funding provides more details in this regard. Feel free to contact us if you would like more information.

Below, we briefly describe how the analyst team and GERAD can support your research projects.

Support at Project Launch

Our team of analysts can offer support at all launch stages of a research project. This starts with the feasibility study of the project being proposed: defining the nature of the project, examining the quality of the data and also potential methodological approaches, and briefly verifying the situation in the field. The objective is to answer the most important questions: what is the purely “research” component of the project, and is it sufficient to justify a university research project and thereby motivate public funding that may be needed?

Following this first step, we move onto the phase of contact with our members who have a particular interest in the project theme as well as in the methodological approaches being considered. It is also during this phase that the structure of the project is mapped out in terms of financial and human resources.

Project Management and Student Mentoring

Once an agreement between our members and the company is reached for the selection of student community members who will take part in the project, GERAD’s team of analysts then take on management of the project and student follow-up.

Development and Acceleration of Strategic Components

Whether for tactical or operational reasons, our analysts get directly involved in many projects, in order to develop solutions. There are many reasons for this. Companies sometimes need to get their projects off the ground faster than university project implementation cycles would normally allow. At other times, a company may need, for example towards the end of a project, to achieve a specific internal company objective related to a product development evaluation process.

Project Finalization

Our team of analysts makes a particularly valuable contribution during the finalization of projects. GERAD analysts can add an extra dimension to the relationship between companies and our members, whether to ensure the adequate monitoring of projects involving multiple stages and/or students, or to move specific technical developments (for instance, computer code) from the research level to a level more suitable for industrial integration.

To find out more, contact us.