From outreach to alliance: How Karolinska designs partnerships with pharma and medtech

In this episode, we are joined by Richard Cowburn, Head of External Engagement Office at Karolinska Institutet, to unpack how one of the world’s leading medical universities approaches long-term partnerships across pharma, medtech, biotech and the public sector. Richard shares how Karolinska has moved from ad-hoc outreach to more intentional alliance-building, grounded in trust, clarity and institutional alignment.

Drawing on more than a decade of experience managing mature collaborations with global life-science companies, Richard reflects on what it takes to sustain partnerships in a fast-moving, high-stakes environment. From designing a “front door” for external engagement, to balancing academic freedom with commercial realities, to measuring impact beyond contracts and income, the conversation offers practical insight into how universities can structure partnerships that deliver lasting value for research, patients and society.

You can read a summary below, and listen to the full interview in our podcast:

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Summary

Creating a front door without centralising everything

Karolinska’s External Engagement Office was created to make collaboration easier, not to control it. In a highly decentralised medical university, researchers already work with industry in many different ways, across projects, consortia and long-term programmes.

The advantage of a front door is that it makes engagement easier.

Rather than claiming ownership, the office focuses on building best practice, offering support where it adds value, and acting as a visible point of contact for external partners. The goal is quality and relevance, not routing every collaboration through a single pipeline.

What long-term partnerships really enable

Some of Karolinska’s industry partnerships have been running for close to a decade. That longevity has created something rare: the ability to reflect on outcomes beyond publications and funding.

Mature partnerships allow the university and its partners to ask harder questions about societal impact, from changes in clinical practice and diagnostics to contributions to policy and guidelines. They also provide deep learning on governance, adaptability and value creation over time.

Measuring impact through stories, not just numbers

Tracking contracts and income is straightforward. Understanding real impact is not. Richard explains that Karolinska is increasingly inspired by narrative-based approaches that complement quantitative metrics.

A large focus has been on storytelling.

By interviewing researchers and industry partners together, the university builds shared narratives around what collaborations have enabled, how researchers have been enriched, and where value has been created. These stories make impact tangible (and meaningful) both internally and externally.

Trust, flexibility and the reality of working with industry

Long-term partnerships in pharma and medtech are inherently complex. Companies change strategy, priorities shift, and programmes evolve. What keeps collaborations alive is not rigidity, but resilience.

It’s like any relationship — you work through the ups and the downs.

Rather than relying on single projects, Karolinska builds portfolios of activities that can absorb change. Trust, openness and transparency allow partners to navigate difficult decisions without undermining the relationship as a whole.

Getting involved early: Contracts, IP and academic freedom

A recurring theme in the conversation is early support. Many industry collaborations begin with informal contact: a conference talk, a paper, a follow-up email… Richard’s team aims to step in early to help researchers make informed decisions.

By supporting researchers before contracts are signed, the university helps balance academic freedom, integrity and commercial considerations. This includes translation between researchers, lawyers and partners — ensuring everyone understands roles, risks and expectations from the outset.

Alignment first, paperwork later

Richard’s advice to institutions is deceptively simple: start with alignment. Shared purpose, clarity of roles and open dialogue matter more at the beginning than NDAs or legal frameworks.

When universities and partners align on why they are working together, everything else — contracts, governance, impact — becomes easier to manage. In an increasingly complex innovation landscape, Karolinska’s approach shows that sustainable partnerships are built on trust, translation and long-term thinking.

Ready for more?

Strong university-industry partnerships are central to institutional impact. The article The MIT Playbook: Designing partnerships that shape the future looks at how MIT aligns strategy, governance and organisational design to build collaborations that last and scale.
For insight into how higher-education partnerships can shape regional innovation, the article When Airbus met UC3M: The impact on Getafe and the Madrid region explores how co-creation between a global aerospace leader and a Spanish university drove local economic and ecosystem outcomes.

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