Office of Business Engagement
Advance your business with UW–Madison

Resources for UW Faculty and Staff

The OBE team is here to connect you with industry partners who can help you succeed. A key element of our work is building strong relationships with UW–Madison faculty and staff. We can connect you with companies for partnerships that include direct funding, joint research, mentorship of student projects, equipment donations, and many others. Here are a few helpful resources; please contact us with any questions.

Self-Service Tools

  • DAPIR (Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research) provides access to tools such as Steppingblocks that help you find alumni at a variety of organizations.
  • Search for research activity and potential collaborators across campus with RABBIT, an AI-powered tool developed to help industry engagement offices on campus connect faculty with applied research opportunities. UW–Madison faculty and staff and WARF employees can access RABBIT using NetID. Data available include maps of UW–Madison faculty collaborations and publicly available information about faculty members’ articles, grants, patents, sponsorships and agreements. RABBIT’s data on sponsored research and papers co-authored with industry can help you find matches between companies and researchers for sponsored research or co-applications for federal grants.

Sponsored Research

  • Badger IP Industry Advantage is UW–Madison’s streamlined approach to transforming discoveries into innovative solutions, providing tiered options for Intellectual Property (IP) licensing tied to sponsored research conducted with industry partners.
  • Are you working with a company and need common forms for agreements? Find them on our Sponsored Research page.

More Resources

Need more direction? Contact our office and we can help you make the connections you need to be successful.

Learn more about industry engagement at UW–Madison

Join us for “Introduction to Industry Collaborations,” an informational session to be held Tuesday, March 10, 2026. All members of the UW–Madison community who want to learn more about partnering with businesses, improve existing strategy, or support industry engagement work are welcome. Find out more and register to attend.