Given tighter budgets and increased concerns about research overhead, learning and using academic insights to raise funds will transform the dynamic of academic research. Whether researchers think about themselves as fundraising professionals, scholars, or both, in most cases, researchers and donors seek the same purpose, “to make a difference to the world.” As it turns out, one of the best ways to engage donors is to show them that their actions matter in helping the world. Through a crowdfunding platform, researchers can engage with donors and share their stories.

There are a few dedicated platforms such as Experiment and Medstartr. The targeted audience is the general public, who may have limited knowledge of science and cares not more than what is happening around them. To engage meaningfully, researchers must be specific about their budget planning, milestones, goals, and, most of all, a clear and easy-to-understand vision that resonates with the general public’s interest. Simply, researchers need to create an impactful story of their research.

Compared to public funding, crowdfunding is relatively small – the average project size from Experiment is $4,050.

While the charges to publish in Open Access (OA) journals can get as high as Euro 9,500 (as in Nature’s case), crowdfunding might not be a feasible or sustainable channel for researchers to cover all their expenses throughout the entire research cycle.  So, from what other sources can researchers find sponsorship?

To seek support from industrial sectors and start up a company to attract investment are other available options. These are especially applicable for research with potential commercial value, as this ‘sponsorship’ aims at potential applications that may bring in revenue for sponsors. Such sponsorships require continuous and dedicated effort from researchers. Steps to go through include identifying the potential sponsor, finding the contact, proposing, and convincing the board about the potential value of the research, current budget plans, and innovation roadmap. After the funding is secured and the research result proves commercial value, researchers must attend to intricate details such as Intellectual Property (IP) transfer details, go-to-market plans, etc. However, only very few researchers have such experience to do all of these.

The good news is, researchers do not have to go through such journey alone.

The Commercialization Center or Technology Transfer Center is a function established in universities to assist researchers in such tasks. The head of such a department is either a researcher with extensive commercialization experience or an experienced professional manager with a research background. The goal is to help researchers explore the potential commercial value of research, connect to potential collaborators, and tend to regulations or government policies when it comes to real-life applications.

Prof. Dr. Hairul Azhar Bin Abdul Rashid is such a character. As the Vice President of Research, Industrial Collaborations, and Engagement from Multimedia University (MMU), Malaysia, Prof. Hairul and his team assist researchers at MMU to pursue their unique commercialization journey. As a researcher himself, he and his research team have collaborated with large corporations. They have accumulated grants close to RM9.9 million (approximately USD 2.3 million) from MOSTI, MOE, PETRONAS, and Telekom Malaysia. The latter two are among the largest privately held corporations in Malaysia. In his interview with ies Research,  Prof. Hairul shared that such collaborative experience was meaningful to their research that would not only be kept on the shelves as patents or literature but be impactful to people’s lives and environment. Listen to his interview with ies research for more exciting insights.

No matter how researchers obtain their funds, they shall leverage their insights to engage, motivate and update the stakeholders for their contribution, and eventually, action. Let the data tell the story, and let the story call for the action!