The role of industry partners in commercializing deep tech

Collaborations between industry and research organizations have long been known to generate many promising innovations. However, what exactly is the value that industry partners contribute in these collaborations to commercialize science? In this study, we analyse projects funded under ATTRACT, a project funded in the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme aiming to spin-off technologies from the continent's research infrastructures. We compare projects with and without industry involvement. We find that proposed project ideas do not differ in crucial attributes such as technology readiness levels, technology novelty, relevance to market, budget credibility and overall expert evaluation. However, we find differences in terms of how the projects are managed and in turn, the ability to attract further funding. This study provides insights on the role of industry partners in guiding cutting-edge technologies from research institutes find market application.