Common Best Practices across Public-Private Partnership Organizations  

The leading public-private partnership organizations highlighted in this section, regardless of their location or focus, demonstrate a common set of best practices in developing talent that drives innovation.

• Demand-driven and highly responsive to specific needs of industry and society: The most effective public-private partnership organizations are demand-driven and have a mission focused on specific market needs, both from an industry or sector perspective and a societal point of view. These organizations address relevant and timely current issues while anticipating future demands and trends. While their work is practical and impactful to society in the present – whether that means supporting a particular type of training or advancing R&D critical to the competitiveness of a company, an industry sector or a country – they bring a forward-looking, visionary perspective to their work at the same time. Finally, they are able to continually evolve to meet changing demands while retaining their core mission.
• Offers a differentiated value proposition that transcends traditional business barriers: Each organization identified has a distinct and differentiated value proposition essential to its market success. Further, the organizations excel at creating bridges between groups that otherwise would operate in different spheres, extracting latent value from the combination of the collaborating networks. More than linking government and industry, these organizations establish connections between other disparate groups or fill a gap between where government and industry typically operate. For example, some leading public-private partnership organizations span multiple sectors or disciplines, allowing shared exchange of best practices and innovations. Others bring together large businesses and start-ups, or research groups in developed economy nations with those in emerging market nations to bridge the cultural and geographical divide.
• Long-term horizon and flexible in measuring success: Like well-managed businesses, leading public-private partnership organizations establish metrics for success and track themselves to those metrics. What differs are the type of metrics and the time horizon for success. A public-private partnership organization is not measured in quarterly earnings and may even use metrics other than monetary value. For example, skills development entities often define success by the number of people trained or certified and, in some cases, jobs secured. Additionally, leading research groups take a portfolio approach with the understanding of the risk involved in R&D investments. “Patient capital”, or long-term capital is a key foundation for success with a number of leading public-private partnerships – they do not expect overnight returns. In some cases, the return on the investment may not accrue directly to the public-private partnership organization; it might be a societal return or a spin-off based on a new technology that becomes a successful new business.
• Seek revenue streams beyond government or public funding: Leading organizations derive a much more significant portion of their revenue and funding from private sources than from public sources. In virtually all cases, they have multiple funding sources. There are a number of reasons why utilizing funding from multiple sources is a best practice. Government funding may vary based on annual budgets and may not necessarily reflect value-add or market demand. Sustained private sector funding requires public-private partnership organizations to be successful in a highly competitive ecosystem, and continually drive innovation, efficiency and return on investment. 
• Core structural integrity: Leading public-private partnership organizations display unapproachable integrity when it comes to intellectual property protection and creating trust and credibility. Leading organizations establish a track record of trust and respect with a country, with industry and with customers. Researchers, scientists and engineers trust that their projects and work products will be respected and treated properly. Similarly, with skills-based institutions, the graduates or recipients of certifications trust that there is credibility in the industry for their certification. Leading organizations develop reputations and brands synonymous with: trustworthy, on time, on budget, innovative, productive, reliable, resourceful and quality.