GERAD exists in order to drive collaboration. First of all, among its members, to stimulate the cross-pollination of ideas and efforts. And second of all, with industry, to support research projects with potential impact on the performance, profitability or efficiency objectives of the companies involved.

Research Objectives

Our collaborations are based on research projects involving one or more companies and one or more groups of researchers. These projects need to be sufficiently innovative to interest our members as well as research funding agencies as a whole. This interest is based on how well the proposed problem complements the researcher’s research topics, the potential for innovation and publication. It is also based on the potential for training highly qualified personnel, i.e. the involvement of graduate students who represent the researchers of tomorrow, whether they are destined for the academic or industrial worlds.

GERAD’s goal is therefore not consultation in the traditional sense. Instead, our goal is to stimulate the development and impact of university research and to train the next generation of researchers, while supporting research and development undertaken by our partner companies as well as their competitive position.

GERAD’s Internal Structure Linking Research and Industry

In late 2020, a strategic review of our internal and external linkages led to creation of an industrial committee, as well as the introduction of tools to energize the internal and external layers of our innovation community, making it more accessible.

These initiatives included creation of an industrial committee, communities of practice and an internal team of research professionals, with the aim of making GERAD financially self-sustaining, and cross-linking it directly with industry.

The next step in changing our approach should be to open this model more widely to the industrial community through creation of an industrial member status providing them with access to various levels of interaction with our communities of practice, our team of research professionals, etc. If you are interested, please contact us for more information.
 
 

Your Collaborative Research Project

It is important to demystify the process surrounding implementation of a research program or research project in a university setting. Our team is here to support you, whether for a short-term project or for development of a complex long-term relationship. The section of our website devoted to Industrial Partnerships provides several examples. The section devoted to Service Offering details the services we provide for the development of research projects. Finally, in the section devoted to Funding, we provide an overview of sources of funding available from different levels of government. In any case, you can contact us to assess the feasibility of your project.