After 10 years on the job and more than 200 hundred partnership deals with industry, it was time to take a break from the operational side. The pressure from a growing workload had been preventing any attempt to reflect and bring the meaningful perspective needed. At the same time, upcoming opportunities and challenges were calling for new insights requiring more time spent away from the bench.
With the support of my management, I have opted for a one year unpaid leave of absence in 2009. This decision has triggered a serie of changes within the team that proved to be overall positive despite the additional work linked to making sure the organization will cope with the requests flow.
My “sabbatical” work consists of three approaches: inward looking, outward looking and exploratory.
The inward part is linked to the mapping of the large diversity of partnering models used in Europe (and to a less extent in the US). Beyond a mere compilation of the models I had the opportunity to witness as President of ASTP, the goal is to outline general principles that apply to these models. Ultimately, such work should provide useful insights to business and academic decision makers when evaluating the opportunity to partner.
The exploratory part is a direct consequences of the previous work. By mapping a serie of models, one defines also a boundary where it becomes challenging to find models applicable to specific type of partnering. This is where the exploratory part begins. For example, how to best partner with firms when the generated knowledge can span from technological to non technological character ?
Finally the outward looking part remains an indissociable part of any sabbatical work. This is why since early May , I have relocated in Boston for six months. Being able to interact within a multidisciplinary team of professionals (within the ITEC department at Boston University) and at the same time be part of a wide network of firms and research institutions focused on innovation will most likely make my stay a very valuable experience .