I think I have participated in every form of university–industry relationships over time. These have ranged from complex transnational collaborative programmes involving multiple large corporate partners to small unfunded and ad-hoc collaborations with start-ups. A few ‘marriages of convenience’, more than a few genuine and lasting partnerships, some that started as one and finished as the other. I should honestly confess that the relationships have met with mixed success. Some have resulted in significant commercial, social and scientific impact; others have, well, how should I put it politely, ‘generated the specified deliverables’. I am not sure that (prior to reading this book, of course) you could have anticipated which was which.

Overall, however, I do feel qualified by virtue of my experience to set out some general lessons. Here, in no particular order, are my top ten personal pointers.

• • Take the time to know each other. Very few of the collaborative successes have been instant. Most have been preceded by a significant period of mutual familiarisation. Knowing each other’s background and trajectory makes a vast difference.

• • Look for complementarity. Good partnerships are enriched by differing perspectives. Closely aligned expertise may make initial conversations easier but may ultimately lead to a less productive relationships.

• • Honesty is the best policy. Good partnerships make progress when each party is clear about their priority outcomes. Thus, and for example, industry has commercial imperatives, while universities are assessed by their publication track record. These can be made to complement each other but the drivers need to be understood from the outset.

• • Share values. While complementary interests can support partnerships, values need to be aligned. These need to be the values that are lived, not simply stated.

• • Agree timelines. Surprisingly, timelines and differing expectations of what can and should be produced, and when, are a very frequent cause of relationship breakdown. It might be thought, crudely, that industry is more oriented to the short term and universities to the longer term, when in fact the picture is a good deal more complex: product development can be lengthy, while research and funding deadlines are short. Mutual acknowledgement is key.