The University of Colorado’s Boulder and Anschutz Medical campuses are launching a new research partnership that could bring in millions more in funding.
“We know that there’s significantly more capacity than the collaborations we have today,” said Terri Fiez, vice chancellor for research and innovation at CU Boulder. “A lot of that is familiarity, getting people introduced between the two campuses and growing the areas we have collaborations in already.”
There are already 16 research projects shared between the two campuses, according to CU Boulder, but those could expand in areas like biosciences, engineering, mental health and the arts.
Two working groups have already been tasked with breaking down administrative and other barriers between the campuses, said Tom Flaig, interim vice chancellor of research at Anschutz, because despite belonging to the same university system, there are a lot of hoops to jump through for the two campuses to work together.
For example, the campuses currently have to subcontract to be involved in a project the other campus is working on, Fiez said.
There are also cultural differences to address, Fiez said, in that how things work at a flagship university of 32,000 students is often different from how they’re done at a medical school.
“How do we bring those two cultures together and take the best of both?” Fiez said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Boulder and Anschutz currently bring in nearly $1.2 billion combined in research funding every year, which ranks them among the top 10 research enterprises in the country, according to CU Boulder.
Campus leaders estimate that by joining forces, Boulder and Anschutz could bring in an additional $10 million a year through streamlining, using grants to kickstart collaborations and responding faster to federal research opportunities.
“We’re excited to see what more we can do by collaborating even more effectively and efficiently together,” Flaig said in a statement.
