LINK: Center for Advancing Partnerships

LINK connects great companies with great opportunities at Virginia Tech

Our model is simple: Engage early and often with our industry partners to understand their changing strategic needs. LINK: Center for Advancing Partnerships matches those needs to Virginia Tech’s extensive network of assets and strengths to ensure partnerships today create impact tomorrow. LINK provides university-level support to deliver a full continuum of engagement opportunities for companies that strive to deepen and expand connections with Virginia Tech.

LINK works closely with companies to expand and strengthen their connections with Virginia Tech’s rich network of students, faculty, research, programs, and infrastructure. From research collaborations, to student internships and experiential learning, to corporate giving, we help our industry partners assess and access the opportunities at Virginia Tech that can help them meet their strategic goals.

How are we different?

LINK was formed specifically to meet the needs of industry

LINK

We bring a holistic, market-driven sensibility

We look at the entire enterprise to find points of intersection with Virginia Tech. We focus on strategic corporate goals and find the best opportunities at Virginia Tech to help meet them.

We break down barriers, not build them up

We bring together key stakeholders to understand goals and constraints from the outset and create win-win scenarios for all involved. We create standardized, business-friendly agreements so that partnerships start quickly.

We are in it for the long haul

We create platforms for mutual benefit and lasting value. We are in it for the long-haul focused on collaborations that can take root and flourish.

How do we help?

We are your door to opportunity

Build Your Workforce

We produce your greatest asset: talent.

Recruit from more than 34,000 students on and off the main campus. Nurture future talent through internships and experiential learning projects. Be involved in signature programs and key initiatives while creating meaningful experiences for your team members.

Connect to Community

We engage partners for global good.

Expand your network at Virginia Tech. Embed in our teams through sabbaticals and visiting scholars programs. Participate in strategic discussions via business roundtables, industrial affiliates programs, and focused events to stay at the forefront of innovation.

Collaborate on Research

We deliver innovations that make a difference.

Join Virginia Tech’s $530 million research enterprise to address near-term technical problems and develop breakthrough technologies. Engage with faculty and students through collaborative problem solving.

Create Points of Leverage

We jump-start the future.

Gain access to state-of-the art facilities, cutting edge research, and award-winning faculty members to secure joint federal awards and public-private programs with unique assets like security clearances and intellectual property.

Whether you are seeking to retain top talent, solve research and development challenges, stay on the leading edge of innovation, encourage inclusion and diversity, or tap into Virginia Tech’s broader network of partners and programs, LINK's team will get you connected.

Hundreds of industry partners have benefitted from being part of the Virginia Tech community. Industry affiliate programs, for example, offer companies platforms for specialized recruiting, pre-competitive research, and participation in communities of practice. Working alongside Virginia Tech faculty and students through on-site research programs and sabbaticals, industry partners gain new skills while delivering results at home.

Naming rights for professorships, fellowships, facilities, and competition-associated equipment build on the affinity of our community for Virginia Tech, supporting corporate branding and sustainability goals in the process. Company champions are provided a wide range of engagement opportunities, including advisory board service, entrepreneurial activities, and teaching.