Turning ideas into action

“At JMU, innovation is for everyone.” This core belief drives the work of the Office of Innovation and Research (OIR), which serves as a university hub for imagination, interdisciplinary research and bold problem-solving. OIR specializes in connecting faculty and students with the assets they need to turn their ideas into action.

Increasingly, faculty members are turning to corporations to realize their research objectives. Associate Director of University-Industry Research Partnerships Greg Wilcox recently spoke with REDI about Halo, an online resource that connects faculty with corporate partners. Available to scholars from all disciplines, this tool has the potential to encompass JMU’s entire scientific scholarship portfolio while establishing strong development relationships with industry partners.

These responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What is Halo?

A: Halo is a commercial online platform [that allows] participating […] faculty and companies to share research interests and opportunities. JMU maintains an organizational page on Halo for faculty researchers to add their profiles and project interests so that companies can reach out to them for collaboration. Faculty researchers can also directly access topical Requests for Proposal (RFPs) from sponsoring companies or identify companies with similar research interests and needs.

Q: What are the benefits of having a faculty profile on the platform?

A: Faculty profiles serve multiple purposes and offer multiple benefits. First, profiles offer faculty the opportunity to illustrate their credentials and extrapolate on their historical, current and aspirational research interests. This in turn allows prospective companies to evaluate JMU faculty for existing research needs or possible collaboration on future research pathways. Further, profiles help establish and build on JMU collective research expertise and reputation among industry partners in broad research areas or in specific and unique topics of interest.

The Halo platform also provides several features that reward universities exhibiting detailed and informative faculty profiles. The first is the “Post a Request” feature which places a live button on JMU’s organizational page that allows company R&D teams to directly contact JMU and its faculty regarding proposed research projects and themes. A robust and detailed faculty profile directory increases the probability that companies use the Post a Request feature.

Another Halo feature, called “PulseChecks,” allows companies to broadcast specific research needs through the Halo network. JMU faculty can respond to these company PulseChecks with a brief description of why they are a good match for the research. The companies will review the brief description but will also evaluate faculty profiles in determining whether JMU is the best partner for the PulseCheck research project.

Q: Why showcase new technologies or applications on Halo as opposed to other online platforms?

A: Halo provides a direct pipeline to a wide variety of potential industry partners with specific research needs and interests, including technology innovation and novel applications. Compared with other online platforms, Halo offer[s] the following:

• Best combination of faculty discovery, industry sponsored research opportunities and company matchmaking at a competitive price.

• JMU was already participating in Halo’s NSF-supported Emerge initiative that focuses on collaboration between industry R&D and emerging research institutions.

• AI-enabled matchmaking between industry R&D teams and faculty researchers.

Q: How does Halo work in concert with other research development opportunities?

A: Halo can be instrumental in developing industry partner research, either sponsored directly by industry or in collaboration for proposals under external funding programs (federal, state, local or foundational). Halo enables the first step in any industry research endeavor, that is, making university connections to likeminded companies. The platform then facilitates immediate university researcher responses to company-inspired research requests or can support long-term collaboration in research areas leading to specific research projects. Halo can also assist in establishing research connections between universities and industry partners that can lead to multi-organizational consortia around specific research areas, or collaborative research opportunities with other universities that are also using Halo.

For any questions regarding Halo, contact Greg Wilcox at cg56hf@jmu.edu.