Research2Market Connect: Cloud-Based Platform to Connect Academic Research With SMEs for Accelerated Innovations

Abstract Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) can benefit significantly by exploiting and successfully commercializing technological innovations in academic institutions. The primary challenge in realizing this requirement is the non-availability of systematic repositories and lower Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) with systems or products available at academic institutions. This paper presents Research2Market Connect to aggregate innovations within academic institutions and a listing of the repository on a cloud-based platform for offering shared access to SMEs. As academic research may not be readily suited to market needs, the platform facilitates enhancing the TRL level (from TRL 4 to TRL 7) through online collaborations and resource provisioning using the service-oriented model. The platform elements — an academic profile, an industry profile, and a mechanism for improving the TRL level using the Design-as-a-Service (DaaS) framework, are conceived and discussed in the paper. An illustrative case study of the rapid development and deployment of a face shield during the COVID-19 pandemic is presented to showcase the importance of collaborative innovation using a cloud-based platform. It has been shown that cloud-based platforms similar to Research2Market Connect can enable SMEs to leverage research in academic institutions with human expertise and computational resources to overcome resource barriers and swiftly respond to changing market conditions.