Corporate Engagement

Our University engages with private corporations and related entities as a way to inform and strengthen our intellectual mission, support our scholarship and students, and translate our research discoveries to benefit society broadly. The need for such engagement has never been greater. Academic-industry partnerships are increasingly vital to generating the knowledge, datasets, and capabilities that are required to be at the leading edge of discovery. Such engagements may also generate research funding and resources for faculty-initiated programs and for building and maintaining core facilities.

Harvard has established robust policies around corporate engagement and processes for reviewing potential engagements to ensure that they support academic freedom and core institutional values, avoid conflicts of interest, and align with the needs and priorities of the University and its constituents. In 2023, the Provost’s Office established two ad hoc committees to undertake a review of the University’s policies, process, and support: the Corporate Relations Research Policy Committee and the Corporate Relations Researcher Engagement Committee. These committees are coordinated and supported through the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR).

The Corporate Relations Research Policy Committee

The Corporate Relations Research Policy Committee is chaired by John H. Shaw, Vice Provost for Research and the Harry C. Dudley Professor of Structural and Economic Geology (FAS) and Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering (SEAS). This committee will review policies and practices for engaging with potential corporate entities and include senior faculty and staff leadership from across Harvard’s Schools and various units (e.g., OVPR, AA&D, OTD).

The Committee’s charge is as follows:

• define and evaluate the range of acceptable mechanisms for corporate engagement and the principles that should govern the selection of specific types of agreements;
• establish clear and consistent standards for implementing Harvard’s policies that govern our assessment of potential corporate sponsors;
• recommend mechanisms to ensure coordinated and consistent engagement with corporate entities across our Institution to explore, assess, and implement these relationships; and
• define clear roles for communication, oversight, and accountability.

The Corporate Relations Researcher Engagement Committee

The Corporate Relations Researcher Engagement Committee is chaired by Amy Wagers, Co-Chair of the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and the Forst Family Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. This committee will help define and promote the roles that faculty, staff, students, and postdoctoral fellows can play in corporate sponsored research agreements. The overarching goals of the committee will be to help maintain the integrity and independence of our research enterprise, while enabling corporate sponsored research activities that advance scholarship and provide support and benefits to researchers and students.

The Committee will review existing university policies and recommend the new policies, or changes to existing policies, needed to promote and safeguard university-corporate relationships. Specifically, the committee will be tasked to work with OTD, UDO, and OGC to develop recommendations.