“Mark Nolan's phone has been ringing off the hook.
At a time when the Trump administration is blowing up the traditional government-funded model for scientific research, Georgia Tech's office of corporate engagement -- led by Nolan -- has secured nearly 15% of the campus research funding from industry, with corporations spending more than $70 million on research this fiscal year, up 28% from last year.
Nationally, industry spends about 6% of the funds that university labs use in research.
Georgia Tech hit this mark as the Trump administration has cut billions in science grants and is overhauling the way the government funds academic research. As universities try to reshape their budgets, facing cuts or other economic pressures, leaders of top schools are turning to Nolan for advice.
In July, he spoke on three conference panels, sharing tips with other schools about how to pitch companies. He fields multiple calls a week. "I was told Mark Nolan was the person to talk to," said Ande Durojaiye, who in February was starting up an office for corporate partnerships at Miami University in Ohio.
Nolan's message: Think big.
The typical way academic institutions find corporate funders is to seek support for individual research projects, Nolan said. Instead, he advises thinking about long-term relationships that offer companies numerous ways to invest.
"We're not talking to companies just about research agreements," Nolan said. "We're talking to them about every way that we could possibly engage with them."
Soon after he pitched the South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Group on his theory of multilayered investment over lunch in the university president's office, the carmaker pledged to invest in the university's athletic program.
The company's name is now on Georgia Tech's football stadium. According to news accounts at the time, Hyundai agreed to pay the university about $55 million over 20 years for the naming rights.
Hyundai also sank an undisclosed amount into roughly a dozen projects at the tech school as part of a yearslong plan to back research into areas such as electric-vehicle technologies and hydrogen as a clean fuel.
In parallel, Hyundai was spending more than $12 billion to build electric-vehicle and battery plants in Georgia. Hyundai said its work with Georgia Tech is unique for its scale, breadth of research and integration with the company's EV manufacturing plant near Savannah, Ga.
"They're in many ways a model for the 21st century university," said Andrew Read, senior vice president for research at Pennsylvania State University, referring to Georgia Tech's approach to industry partnerships. Realistically, Read and others don't expect company investments to fully replace federal funding for science, but with budgets at risk they feel compelled to look elsewhere for support.
Georgia Tech is among a small cadre of universities -- including Purdue University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others -- that have a significant chunk of research money coming from companies. But about 15 years ago, having established itself as a major research institution backed by government grants, Georgia Tech decided to expand its portfolio. Nolan was hired in 2021 to build on those gains.
These arrangements offer financial benefits to the university and benefit the companies involved, but there are trade-offs.
One reason companies turn to universities, according to Mike Tinskey, a Georgia Tech professor and the campus liaison for Hyundai and others, is that it is cheaper to run work in academic labs staffed primarily by graduate students while also getting the benefit of faculty experts who are top minds in their fields.
But companies are often secretive about their technology and spell out their terms in nondisclosure and intellectual-property-rights agreements.
Work at the lab that combustion scientist Benjamin Emerson oversees, where some 50 graduate students test power-plant and jet-engine parts for companies including GE Vernova and GE Aerospace, is often bound by nondisclosure clauses in contracts that protect the manufacturers' property.
Because graduate students need published scientific papers to graduate, the lab has run modified experiments without the protected hardware, or under slightly different conditions.
While the current environment has made scientists and administrators more interested in working with companies, they warn that government support remains crucial.
Federal grants made up more than half of funds schools spent on research in fiscal year 2023, vastly more than what companies spent, and supported work that companies are reluctant to fund.
That includes research that is valuable to society, such as big epidemiological studies that have implications for public health, work that wouldn't get done without government support, said Bhaven Sampat, an economist at Johns Hopkins University who studies science and public policy.
Government investment also supports early-stage discovery, the kind of preliminary work that isn't immediately marketable but lays the groundwork for breakthroughs decades into the future.
Quantum science, for example, was studied in university labs for decades backed by federal funding before tech giants, building on that painstaking groundwork, seized on its billion-dollar computing potential.
"I am skeptical that industry is going to fill the gap quantitatively or qualitatively," Sampat said.” [1]
Why Lithuanian companies don't invest much into university research?
Low corporate investment in Lithuanian university research is primarily due to a weak institutional environment for collaboration, mismatched business and academic interests, and a business sector that has historically relied on low-cost labor rather than innovation. Low-cost labor is gone now.
To address this, Lithuania must invest more government money into research to compensate the deficiency, strengthen partnerships through policy incentives, consolidate innovation efforts, and improve communication between universities and businesses.
Reasons for low investment
Misaligned goals and expectations
A fundamental conflict exists between the goals of academia and the private sector, and there is often a lack of mutual understanding between them.
Business focus: Companies prioritize rapid product development, market-oriented solutions, and protecting proprietary knowledge.
Academic focus: Universities focus on long-term research and are driven by the desire to publish findings and advance scientific knowledge.
Weak institutional framework
The institutional environment is fragmented, lacks coherent policies, and provides limited support for fostering strong industry-academia ties.
Lack of effective coordination: While various government bodies exist, the system for coordinating science and innovation policy is complex, with responsibilities split between the Ministries of Education and Economy.
Limited support for small firms: The OECD notes that limited government support, particularly direct funding, may hinder small, innovative firms from investing in R&D.
Business culture and structure
The priorities and structure of the Lithuanian business sector present significant hurdles to R&D investment.
Focus on low-cost labor that is gone now: Historically, Lithuanian competitiveness has relied on lower labor costs, reducing the incentive for capital-intensive R&D. Some business leaders also show a lingering preference for short-term profit over long-term R&D investment.
Lack of in-house R&D: Many Lithuanian companies lack established, internal R&D departments. As a result, they may not have the capacity to effectively collaborate with universities or absorb external research.
Risk aversion and financing: Early-stage deep-tech companies struggle with limited seed funding, pushing them to seek revenue fast instead of focusing on research.
Brain drain and skills mismatch
Even with a high number of tertiary graduates, Lithuania faces a persistent skills gap and a "brain drain" of talent. This discourages private sector investment by limiting the pool of qualified talent available to work with universities on complex projects. The shortage of skilled workers is particularly acute in cutting-edge fields like artificial intelligence, since pay here is comparatively low.
What to do to boost investment
Improve the policy framework
Wake up, smell the coffee, see the reality, compensate with more government funds. Stop investing into military mines, it will be dangerous and expensive to collect and neutralize them (between $300 and $1,000 for one mine), they pose to civilians the indiscriminate danger, they are useless for a tiny country in a nuclear age. For small countries, security often comes from managing the risks posed by nuclear powers, not from trying to defend against them conventionally.
Consolidate innovation agencies: Make the R&D support system more efficient by consolidating existing agencies and aligning higher education funding with innovation priorities.
Strengthen policy coordination: The Strategic Council for Research, Technology, and Innovation should ensure that major R&D initiatives are well-coordinated and communicated to all stakeholders.
Offer clear incentives: Increase direct public funding and targeted tax incentives to make collaboration more attractive, especially for small, financially constrained firms.
Foster collaboration and communication
Build innovation hubs: Promote the development of innovation hubs where students, universities, and companies can collaborate on new products and services.
Enhance knowledge exchange: Invest in dedicated professionals and programs to support knowledge exchange between academia and industry. Offer workshops, joint projects, and internships to bridge the gap.
Facilitate networking: Organize and promote industry-specific conferences and events to help businesses and researchers network and build personal relationships based on trust and mutual respect.
Enhance human capital and skills
Focus on digital skills: The OECD recommends strengthening both initial and lifelong education to improve digital skills, which are crucial for high-tech R&D.
Target vocational training: Reform the education system to address skills mismatches and better fund vocational training, which is currently overly reliant on EU funds.
Attract foreign R&D investment
Reinforce the integrity framework: Improve the perception of the public integrity framework and address issues like perceived corruption and lack of regulatory transparency, which can discourage foreign investors.
Highlight a skilled workforce: Continue to emphasize Lithuania's large and skilled talent pool to attract foreign direct investment in R&D.
Promote specific sectors
Emphasize strengths: Leverage Lithuania's strong performance in key areas like photonics, material engineering, and the life sciences.
Initiatives like the Bio City hub show potential for driving growth and attracting further private investment.
1. U.S. News: Georgia Tech Serves as Model of How to Withstand Cuts. Subbaraman, Nidhi. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 30 Aug 2025: A3.
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