Indiana University has long understood that great research is also an act of service, driving economic and societal impact that benefits people in Indiana and beyond.

Cook Group President Pete Yonkman and Indiana University President Pamela S. Whitten sign a five-year Master Collaboration Agreement between IU and Cook Medical on Aug. 29, 2025. Photo by James Brosher, Indiana University IU’s industry partnerships accelerate discovery, prepare talent for meaningful careers, and address real-world challenges facing our state and nation. Over the past year, IU has made significant university-wide investments to strengthen our ability to be nimble and entrepreneurial partners. Examples of early success include launching All Services Partnership Agreements with Eli Lilly and Company and Cook Medical, led by the IU Launch Accelerator for Biosciences, with additional partnership agreements in the works.

These comprehensive agreements are designed to ensure a more streamlined and thorough partnership experience across all campuses. This includes simultaneously leveraging the many facets of IU to meet our partners’ needs. When structured in this way, All Services Partnership Agreements serve multiple audiences at once:

• Faculty gain access to new research opportunities, infrastructure and long-term industry relationships.
• Industry partners benefit from coordinated engagement and the ability to tap IU expertise at scale.
• Indiana benefits from research and innovation that strengthen the state’s economy, expand workforce pathways, and address pressing health and biosciences challenges.

To clarify scope, the memo linked here applies only to All Services Partnership Agreements in which IU LAB is designated as the administrative and contractual lead. As new IU LAB-led agreements are established, notice will be provided.

However, and to emphasize, we absolutely need and encourage IU faculty to continue to advance their many collaborations and on-going discussions with other existing companies. In fact, we hope that these fruitful collaborations will one day lead to major Partnership Agreements as a direct result of faculty initiatives.

As specific projects or tasks are identified under the All Services Partnership Agreements, the designated administrative lead works with schools, departments and centers across IU to invite faculty participation. When IU LAB is named as the administrative and contractual lead, it may issue a formal request for proposals. In others, opportunities may grow from existing faculty-industry relationships. In all cases, faculty engagement remains central. These partnerships succeed because of IU faculty’s expertise, creativity and rigor.

IU LAB partners closely with faculty leads to develop scopes of work and realistic, well-supported budgets. IU LAB is the primary point of coordination with industry partners and collaborates with IU Research units, including the Office for Research Administration and the Innovation and Commercialization Office, to support efficient and transparent execution.

While IU LAB is not designated as a centrally administered center or institute, it operates using established principles and indirect cost-allocation practices to support consistency and fairness across units.

Aligning directly with the IU 2030 strategic plan, these partnerships advance transformative research, expand opportunities for students, and serve Indiana businesses and our economy. They also reflect IU’s $250 million commitment, announced in October 2023, to expand research and innovation capacity, formalizing Indiana’s position as a national leader in biosciences.

A groundbreaking ceremony for IU LAB was held Oct. 21, 2025. Photo by Liz Kaye, Indiana University To support this work, IU created IU LAB in December 2024 through a $138 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. IU LAB helps faculty do their best work in partnership with industry. It provides a clear, coordinated entry point for companies seeking to collaborate with IU and a supportive structure that removes long-standing administrative barriers that typically have made large-scale partnerships overly difficult and complex to launch.

IU LAB is not a research center in the traditional sense. It does not replace faculty scholarship or decision-making. Instead, it functions as a service hub for the university by coordinating contracts, budgets and communication so faculty can focus on the research, teaching and engagement that matter most.

Through IU LAB, industry partners gain access to the full breadth of IU’s expertise, including research services, credentialing, talent development, consulting and other capabilities essential to innovation. In this role, IU LAB harnesses Indiana University’s $1 billion research enterprise to strengthen Indiana’s $99 billion life sciences economy and serves as the administrative and contractual lead on behalf of the university for All Services Partnership Agreements.

As we look ahead, IU LAB and our All Services Partnership Agreements represent an evolution in how IU lives its mission. They reflect our commitment to service-driven research, to supporting faculty success and to ensuring that IU’s discoveries continue to benefit the state and beyond.

Faculty and staff are encouraged to reach out with questions or to learn more about how IU LAB supports industry partnerships.

Russell J. Mumper is Indiana University’s vice president for research.