The roles of a Programme and Project Management Office to support collaborative university–industry R&D

Abstract

While the literature provides some advice on managing programmes and projects in general, the specific context of the university–industry collaboration is being scarcely reported, demanding a strong research effort to produce effective guidelines. Pursuing this effort, a Programme and Project Management Office (PgPMO) structure, specifically devoted to support collaborative university–industry R&D funded contracts, is proposed. This paper is focused on the set of key functions and responsibilities established for the overall PgPMO, as well as on the equivalent ones for the four proposed PgPMO roles: the PgPMO Officer, PgPMO Finance, PgPMO Communication and PgPMO Quality Assurance Management. Additionally, it discusses the implementation process of such structure, shedding light on the success factors for its implementation. The PgPMO described in this paper has been implemented in two case studies. The programme stakeholders of both case studies perceived that such PgPMO structure has contributed to achieve the success of the corresponding university–industry programmes.