Building and sustaining marine technology partnerships

Abstract

This paper defines a marine technology partnership and presents the fundamental mechanics for sustaining a viable partnership. Partnerships follow a natural life cycle and should be formally structured to share costs and be inclusive, i.e., promoting broad participation. By understanding partnership principles and studying currently operating partnerships, one can become equipped to use a partnership strategy to meet marine technology challenges. Inventive planning and formal accountability provide the key mechanisms for broadening the partnership and adapting it to changing societal needs. Critical steps that sustain a viable partnership include operational principles that extend from initiating a partnership agreement to conducting meaningful evaluation. Marine technology partnerships should enable participants to integrate multidisciplinary resources to support key oceanographic, meteorological, engineering, and marine operations. Several federal initiatives such as the Small Business Technology Transfer program and the National Ocean Partnership Program now exist to facilitate collaborative research. These programs have contributed to the development of productive business-industry-academic partnerships.