Author: Dr Bruno Reynolds
If your institution is under pressure to find new income, one question worth asking is: are your facilities set up as research assets, or as services customers will actually buy?
Many universities have built up impressive facilities, technical platforms and specialist expertise over years of investment. The opportunity is clear: to turn what are often predominantly internal research facilities into revenue-generating services for external customers.
But this is where many institutions get stuck. Strong facilities do not automatically become strong services. Scientific excellence, specialist infrastructure and academic credibility all matter, but they are rarely enough on their own to generate repeat business. External customers are not just buying access to equipment. They are buying outcomes, reliability and confidence that the service will deliver what they need in a professional and predictable way.
If universities want facilities and expertise to become a more reliable source of revenue, they need to be more deliberate about how those services are designed, positioned and operated.
Tip 1: Present the capability, but lead with the value
Having access to the right equipment matters. In some cases, a customer is actively looking for a specific tool, platform or technical capability, and that needs to be clearly visible on a website or service page. But universities should not stop there. What matters most is helping customers understand the value behind that capability: a dataset, a validated process, a specialist analysis, or access to expertise delivered to an agreed standard and timeframe. Infrastructure should be visible, but the customer problem and the value of solving it should lead the story.
Tip 2: Test the market before assuming demand
Many university facilities are scientifically impressive but commercially underdeveloped. That is not unusual. The market does not reward excellence in the abstract; it rewards relevance, responsiveness and confidence in delivery. Facilities need to validate demand early by speaking to target customers, understanding purchasing drivers, and testing willingness to pay. Strong science is an asset, but it is not, on its own, a route to sustainable revenue.
Tip 3: Resource the service properly
Facilities do not become revenue-generating services simply by asking technical staff to absorb external work on top of everything else. Commercial delivery requires a broader set of roles: business development, customer handling, project coordination, administration and technical delivery. In smaller facilities, those functions may be shared by a few people. In larger ones, they may need dedicated support. Either way, they need to be recognised, resourced and managed as part of the service.
Tip 4: Treat process and quality as part of the offer
External customers expect a service that is consistent, documented and dependable. That means clear workflows, defined standards, appropriate quality control and a customer journey that works from first enquiry to final invoice. Many facilities do not lose business because the science is weak. They lose it because buying from them feels slow, unclear or fragmented. Reliability, responsiveness and ease of engagement are commercial assets in their own right.
How Oxentia can help
Oxentia has helped universities and research organisations strengthen how their facilities are presented to the market, improve customer engagement, and build service offers that are clearer, more credible and easier to buy from. We help institutions turn strong technical capability into stronger commercial performance by making services easier to understand, easier to access and easier to trust. If your university is looking to generate more value from its facilities and expertise, now is a good time to start that conversation.