Today's fiscal and policy environment requires rising collaboration among the public and private sectors to fuel research and drive results into the marketplace. Any significant research university requires the support of a diverse, external ecosystem. That ecosystem must provide significant funding and act as a catalyst to innovation.

At its core, a research institution is an engine of innovation. To broaden the possibilities and move the gears, successful research enterprises leverage their assets by assembling a robust collection of entrepreneurs, financers, large corporations, and nongovernmental organizations. In some cases, innovation hubs have naturally grown up around great universities, and in others, they have been purposefully created. Whatever the case, high-impact innovation will not happen without a supportive ecosystem.

Representative descriptions of FaegreBD Consulting's "3P" higher education work are summarized below. 

• Accelerating Medical Therapies. FaegreBD Consulting fostered the development of The Learning Collaborative (TLC). This public-private-partnership focuses on accelerating the movement of therapies for rare blood cancers through clinical proof-of-concept studies with the goal of commercializing promising treatments. FaegreBD Consulting developed a multi-party Memorandum of Understanding that guides TLC operations and helped to secure a historic Cooperative Research and Development Agreement that formalized the work of the TLC. FaegreBD Consulting continues to support the development of The Learning Collaborative, which involves a research university, the NIH, and a large non-profit.
  
• Pediatric Research. For an internationally recognized, leading medical research and teaching hospital, FaegreBD Consulting has supported the development of a comprehensive federal policy and research relations program. Among other results, the work spurred the creation of a national coalition among nearly two dozen peer organizations advocating for a focused federal investment in research infrastructure.