Guest Post: A new cozy home for Academic Experts: Acabiz

(El post de hoy está escrito por Corrado Passera y tiene el objetivo de presentar a Acabiz, el proyecto de un grupo de jóvenes de Milan que proponen una plataforma on-line para vincular el conocimiento de los investigadores académicos con empresas y contratos públicos y privados)

Sometimes it is sheer needs that bring about new ideas; because when there is a ‘situation’, someone needs to come up with a solution. And we all know how difficult it is to be an academic researcher in certain countries (little more than one actually!). Little salaries, difficult environments to emerge and publish and apparent impossibility to link-up with companies in order to create mutually useful collaborations.

So came the idea; not from the Silicon Valley’s boys but from foggy Milan, Italy, where a group of young entrepreneurs created a on-line platform dedicated at connecting academic experts to businesses. Let me explain a little better, the platform’s name is Acabiz and it effectively allows academics to monetise their knowledge by carrying out consultancy work for businesses and governmental organisations, needing the type of niche knowledge that only academics can have.

Acabiz is an extremely simple concept but a particularly useful tool for both academics and businesses. For academic experts, it is a good way to get in touch with companies interested in their research and expand their network of useful contacts, while for businesses (particularly for SMEs), it is a good channel to source knowledge from leading academic experts around the globe in an efficient and secure way; basically, and on-line knowledge transfer unit.

So far, Acabiz has worked well with roughly 1,600 academic users from around the globe and 100 companies using its extensive academic network. DNA methylation, Fortran programming, exam management, epigenetic reprogramming, intelligent buildings and Polish politics are only some of the thousands of key words that are populating this new web-tool, which aims to make knowledge transfer a simpler and more practical process.

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The author, Corrado Passera, is an Academic Liaison Officer for Acabiz.