Collaboration with industry has become a significant part of the activity of physical
modelling research centres over the last decade. This results from mutual needs from industry partners
to gain access to expertise and capabilities not existing in the industry and from research institutions to
gain insight in practical research and to secure funding to support long-term experimental developments.
The paper presents experiences shared by three research institutions, the Centre for Offshore Foundation
Systems (COFS) at UWA, Deltares and the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées (LCPC) in
collaborating with industry. The different forms of collaboration and interaction are discussed and the various benefits of industry collaborations are evaluated and discussed.