Partnership Opportunities

The university has a broad array of opportunities for external organizations and their employees to support our educational activities. These opportunities include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Speakers, Reviewers and Boards: Engagement with talented professionals is fundamental to the success and relevance of our programs. There are a wide range of opportunities for individuals to serve as speakers (for courses, seminars and special events), as reviewers (for project-based activities), and on boards (for departments, programs, and Schools).
• Mentors and Advisors: The university has a number of mentoring programs that rely on active interactions with external professionals. There are also opportunities to support student club activities as advisors, tour hosts, etc.
• Project Collaboration/Sponsorship: External partners often advise, sponsor, and/or collaborate with the university as part of focused class projects, student productions, or year-long design projects.

The University proactively works with employers to match them with talented students and graduates. The University's Career Center is a primary resource for serving these needs. Faculty and staff affiliated with relevant programs and focus areas are also great resources for identifying students with talents aligned to the needs of employers. International graduate students on F-1 visas are able to be hired by employers through the government’s CPT (Curricular Practical Training), and graduate program graduates may be hired through the government's  OPT (Optional Practical Training) programs.

Overall, employers are invited to engage with the university to support:

• Internships: These positions involve students being hired directly by an employer. The university’s role typically involves marketing and/or matching these opportunities with students.
• Co-ops: These programs typically integrate professional work with an employee in concert with a structured educational program that provides students with academic credit.
• Promotional Events: Employers are often interested in gaining exposure for the opportunities they offer to students and future employees. This can be supported in a number of different ways to include focused company or industry nights that feature the external organization. 
  

SCU offers formal graduate education suitable for corporate employees in the form of Masters degrees, graduate Certificate programs, or individual courses. Programs have varying formats that can range from in-person offerings (on campus or at external sites) to online asynchronous activities. In some cases, the University is able to customize these programs to emphasize academic areas of specific interest to external partners. This could include offering/adapting/creating one or more courses in a specific area and potentially incorporating them as the emphasis area in a broader Certificate or MS degree.

 Other non-degree options include:

• Executive Education: The Leavey Executive Center has a number of well-established programs in areas such as leadership, management, and innovation.
• Professional Workshops: Custom workshops can be developed to meet the specific academic needs of partners. These can be conducted on-campus, at employer locations, and/or online.
• Badging programs: The School of Engineering offers several hands-on badging programs available to the external community on topics such as Introductory Prototyping and 3D Printing.

SCU faculty have deep expertise across a variety of topics and many have demonstrated success in collaborating with investigators from external organizations.

• Informal Collaboration: Joint R&D activities often begin with interaction between investigators across organizations, with no explicit exchange of resources, such as financial support. This may also lead to non-financial agreements such as shared use of facilities, equipment, etc.
• Sponsored Research: Organizations can sponsor R&D efforts by SCU teams of faculty and students through mechanisms such as grants and contracts. Options for formal agreements and IP are reviewed on our Agreement Options page.
• Organizational Teaming: SCU faculty often team with organizations to propose and conduct R&D activities sponsored by 3rd parties, such as government agencies and foundations. This is often done through subcontractor arrangements or through linked, collaborative proposals.

Several SCU faculty and research groups specialize in the development of patentable technologies and related Intellectual Property (IP). There are many opportunities for partnerships involving the development, application, and commercialization of these works.

• Foundational R&D: Many faculty engage in research that is fundamental but “use-inspired,” in the sense that the focus of such work is motivated by real-world challenges that may be of interest to external partners. Collaborations of this nature are often supported through normal funding mechanisms such as grants.
• Joint Development: More integrated development of technology is possible with the potential for SCU researchers to develop and deliver functional systems and to jointly develop new IP. Such collaborations are often conducted via Contracts or Cooperative Agreements. These agreements can support various forms of licensing as well the up-front purchase of IP rights. Furthermore, there are numerous teaming opportunities for collaborative technology development that may be financially supported through government programs such as SBIR/STTR’s, the NSF GOALI program, etc.
• Commercialization: SCU’s modest but valuable patent portfolio is broad, with multiple technologies in the areas of digital encoding, wearable devices, energy systems, and robotics. Partners interested in exploring commercialization opportunities should contact the Partnerships Office.
• Venture Acceleration: SCU has several educational programs in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship. There are a variety of ways in which external partners can engage with these programs for assistance with business development, technical design and prototyping, and legal considerations. In addition, SCU’s Bronco Ventures Accelerator has programs to support SCU-affiliated entrepreneurs in the creation and development of for-profit businesses.