Meeting Your Match: A Case Study in Choosing a Strategic Research Partner
March 4, 2025—Long-term strategic partnerships offer a range of benefits to universities and companies alike, but getting a large-scale partnership off the ground can be daunting. For inspiration, the well-established Eastman and North Carolina State University partnership offers practical lessons about finding the right partner and expanding the ROI from the relationship.
Successful search
The NC State-Eastman partnership began with a business need: Eastman, a chemical company, needs to stay commercially competitive. Partnering with a university would enable the company to leverage academic creativity and research capabilities. The company had long engaged in ad hoc, one-off academic collaborations, but leadership saw value in shifting the approach to established, continuing interactions with a university partner. This new vision included engagement on multiple levels (from administration to students). Tactical goals included pre-negotiated contracting terms to more rapidly get projects off the ground, access to state-of-the-art equipment, and building an employee pipeline. Establishing a research center on a university campus with company experts on-site was the centerpiece strategy Eastman chose to meet its goals.
Eastman created a list of around 200 top universities in chemistry, engineering, and math. By comparing publication rates, government funding, and other metrics, they were able to narrow their search to just 10 institutions. The company sent out small teams to these campuses to scout the culture and research capabilities, further narrowing the scope to four universities. NC State University rose as a top contender, and its office of partnerships was instrumental in the next phase: negotiation. From setting up a memorandum of understanding to creating a contract took the partners only 42 days. This agreement handled IP and the specifics of the business relationship, including support for on-site faculty and plans to create a research center on campus, establishing a baseline for continued engagement.
Impact, keys to success, and looking forward
Since its inception in 2012, the partnership between NC State University and Eastman has resulted in $20 million invested in 114 research projects and over $220 million in business ROI. Eastman personnel conduct their university-facing activities at the Eastman Chemical Company Center for Excellence on NC State’s Centennial Campus. At the end of each rotation, these industry professionals can bring back insights to apply to their work at Eastman.
NC State and Eastman report that the key to success lies in understanding one another so well, including each partner’s needs, constraints, motivations, capabilities, and interests. Where these overlap, parties will find success and ensure that both partners consistently derive value from the engagement. Dedicating staff and resources to the partnership helps contribute to its longevity. Building trust is also critical; being transparent, facilitating face-to-face interactions with researchers, and managing expectations help establish a foundation of mutual understanding. There will always be challenges, but working together regularly helps to overcome them.
In this partnership that’s now more than a decade old, Eastman has met nearly all its collaboration goals with NC State University, but there’s always room to expand and include more professionals from different disciplines, as well as more research projects spanning new colleges at the institution. The initial success of this program led Eastman to expand its network of partner schools to include the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Why it matters
Eastman’s enduring relationship with NC State University and its more recent engagements with UNC Chapel Hill and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are strong examples of how intentionally built partnerships with ongoing support efforts can drive success. By aligning goals, fostering innovation, and adapting to evolving needs, their collaboration offers a model that other organizations can learn from and replicate.
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