| Halo
Learn about the National Science Foundation's new pilot project led by Halo.
Partner smarter. Move faster.
AI-powered matching to accelerate research and development.
Expand your search. Find new partners. Bring new products to market faster.
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From research to commercialization, find the right partners to close critical gaps.
Halo drives concrete results for teams from across the R&D spectrum.
79%
of customers gathered useful insights about the tech landscape
97%
of customers agreed that Halo helped boost proposal quality
81%
of customers agreed that Halo saved time in the evaluation process
94%
of customers agreed that Halo helped expand their network of experts
91%
of customers discovered researchers they weren’t aware of

Develop novel technologies

Source breakthrough innovations from universities and startups to transform your product pipeline.

Improve a process or product

Optimize your existing products and processes with proven solutions from established partners.

Validate technology

Test, analyze, and validate your innovations through specialized testing labs and CROs.

Fill knowledge gaps

Connect with subject matter experts and consultants to rapidly build capabilities and support critical decisions.

Choose partnership models that fit your stage of development.

Sponsored research

Co-development

Technology licensing

Contract research

Supply/purchase

Consulting

Equity investment

Material transfer

Halo has proven to be a valuable tool for BASF experts to connect with partners and find solutions and collaboration opportunities.

Benjamin Knudsen, BASF

Vice President of Research North America

Identify the most impactful partners and solutions using AI-powered matching.
Collaboration Partnership Innovation Growth
1
Find new collaborators, faster
Post a request or search the network—discover under-the-radar R&D collaborators using AI-powered scouting and our global ecosystem partners.
2
Target the right partners
Invite only pre-qualified innovators and suppliers to connect or submit a proposal—with or without disclosing your company name.
3
Accelerate the evaluation process
Choose the right partner using tools that help globally-distributed teams quickly understand the most promising proposals.
4
Cultivate relationships over time
Grow and nurture your own network of R&D partners focused in key areas, and build your reputation as a partner of choice.
From gene editing to microbial research, see how Bayer Crop Science partners smarter with Halo.
Learn how Halo helps other R&D teams in food & agriculture advance innovation.

Explore Halo for Food & Agriculture

Industry leaders use Halo to find partners and solutions.

Scientific experts

Sponsored research

Co-development

Sponsored research

Sponsored research

Sponsored research

We’ve been able to find new research and experts that none of our other tools could find, unearthing what is up and coming and beneath the surface.

Maxine Roman, Kraft Heinz

Innovation Collaboration & Partnerships Lead

Academia, startups, industry and suppliers—R&D partners use Halo to bring new products to market faster.
Academic, startup, and industry innovators use Halo to move science forward.
Industry Partner
We were originally drawn to Halo for its proposal management and collaboration features, which streamlined the process and saved us time we’d typically spend on set up and administration. What we hadn’t expected was how much Halo would help expand our own network of researchers across the world that we can now leverage for future opportunities.
Phil Taylor, PhD
Open Innovation Lead
Bayer Crop Science
Read Bayer's story
Academic Researcher
Through Halo I am able learn about opportunities with great companies. More importantly, it makes it possible to apply to those projects that interest me. The platform's timely email alerts and application status reminders make me comfortable with the process. I know the platform will have a bright future.
Tengxiang Lian
Research Associate
South China Agricultural University
View their profile
Industry Partner
Halo has provided us a platform to reach out to a worldwide network of experts for critical problems we are trying to solve. Their interface allows for an efficient means to engage outside collaborators, review and triage proposals, and find the right partner.
Alex Goddard, PhD
External Sciences Lead
Takeda
Explore Takeda on Halo
University Administrator
I think all of these funding opportunities are really interesting. Not only are they in fields where my university excels, but they are on topics that are strategically important to university leadership. Thank you for developing the platform.
Elizabeth Ocampo
Director of Development
University of Wisconsin-Madison
‍
Academic Researcher
Through Halo I've been able to connect and collaborate with partners that see applications for my research in areas I hadn't imagined. I submitted a brief research concept through the Halo website, and ending up making a pitch to a company I knew nothing about previously. Now we are in the final rounds of negotiating a quarter million dollar research project.
Paul Westerhoff, PhD, PE, BCEE
Principal Investigator
Arizona State University
View their profile
Academic Researcher
Halo is a unique platform that helps me connect with potential industry partners and gets me to know their very specific needs. Submitting a proposal on Halo was also extremely easy. Shortly after submitting, I was notified that it had been advanced to the next round.
Haoran Wei, PhD
Principal Investigator
University of Wisconsin-Madison
View their profile
University Administrator
This is exactly the resource that my partnership office needs to act as a navigator/matchmaker for research and industry.
Olusola Fasunwon
Director, Research and Innovation Services
University of Lethbridge
Industry Partner
Halo has given us a lot of new and fresh ideas that line up with our business needs, great visibility into what universities are focused on, and who’s doing what in our field. It's also given us much broader reach than through traditional channels. That’s been exciting.
Matt Muller, PhD
Director of Applied Innovation
Baxter
Read their story
Academic Researcher
I have already told my colleague about Halo. It has many benefits: 1. A one-stop shop for many solutions; 2. Great offers from many companies; 3. Easy to apply for RFPs; 4. I found it simple and easy to use.
Simerjeet Kaur
Principal Agronomist
Punjab Agricultural University
View their profile
Startup Researcher
NeoChloris is totally burned out applying to government SBIR, FOA from DOE, NSF, etc. Our best successes have been dealing directly with client companies to solve their problems, so your tool is a great “match-making” site for a company like ours! We don't pursue basic research, only high level applied research with practical/economical results.
Charles Stack
CTO
NeoChloris
View their profile
Startup Researcher
Halo gave my company access to a wide range of collaborating opportunities. This allowed me to partner with various companies that I didn't otherwise have access to. I love how there are always new partnership opportunities that only take under an hour to apply for.
Linda May-Zhang
Vice President of Innovation
Blue California Ingredients
View their profile
Startup Researcher
I am amazed at the process efficiency and how the opportunity was brought to my attention in the first place.
Robert Evans
CEO
MChem Tech, Malaysia
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Industry Partner
Our goal was to extend our network and to identify new partners for R&D projects in the field of Quantum Machine Learning. And this is what we reached with halo.science. Two thirds of the applicants were outside our own network!
Nicole Klein-Stocké
Community Management Next Generation Computing
BASF
Explore BASF on Halo
Industry Partner
Halo made it easy to source proposals to our opportunity, share feedback with colleagues and connect directly with the researchers to learn more. The fact that we identified more than 30 proposals for further screening speaks to their quality and relevance.
Sri Narayan-Sarathy, PhD
Senior Principle Scientist
PepsiCo
Read PepsiCo's story
Industry Partner
Halo’s platform simplifies tech scouting and partnering. In a matter of weeks, we received high quality proposals that aligned with our interests. Halo’s experts also helped us evaluate proposals and narrow down final selections. Although our goal was to fund one project, we were so impressed with the caliber of submissions we're considering funding three.
Mark Sweeney
Product Manager
Oldcastle Infrastructure
Explore Oldcastle on Halo
Industry Partner
We partnered with Halo to broaden our connections to the global scientific and business innovation community, and to communicate our commitment to people, planet, and productivity. The Halo ecosystem helped us reach a new and diverse group of scientists, and the interface made managing records and communications simple.
Warren Schafer
VP, Global R&D
Valent
Explore Valent on Halo
Industry Partner
We excel at reactive customer requests for new product development within our core expertise, but lack a pipeline of transformational innovation projects. To build out a team to take on the tasks of soliciting, vetting and organizing external open innovation requests would be prohibitively expensive. By having this all organized in one platform, Halo has saved us countless hours.
John Manderfield
Innovation & Design Fellow
Altium Packaging
Explore Altium on Halo
Industry Partner
Using Halo we’ve been able to find new research and experts that none of our other tools could find. That has been a major benefit, unearthing what is up and coming and beneath the surface. The other big value-driver has been efficiency and how streamlined the process is through Halo.
Maxine Roman
Lead, R&D Innovation Collaboration & Partnerships
Kraft Heinz
Explore Kraft Heinz on Halo
Startup Researcher
Quick and easy. Halo's platform solves the biggest pain points that researchers face - the time it takes to write a proposal and the excessive time it takes to hear anything back. I submitted a proposal and in less than a week was on the phone with the industry partner.
Khalid Alam, PhD
Co-Founder & CEO
Stemloop
View their profile
Academic Researcher
Working with the Halo platform made my life a lot easier! My proposal was rapidly screened, and I was connected quickly to the sponsoring entity. In addition, and very importantly, the initial proposal was short and focused, which saved me (and I'm sure the sponsor) a lot of time. I certainly hope that more sponsors will use this platform - it will make the proposal process a (little) less painful for everyone!
David Jassby, PhD
Principal Investigator
University of California
View their profile
Explore more customer stories, testimonials, and reviews from R&D partners on Halo.

Explore stories and reviews

Case study

How BASF achieves unprecedented collaboration with high-quality R&D partners

Learn how BASF uses Halo to quickly and efficiently match with on-target partners, accelerate solution identification, address blind spots, and broaden their network of experts.

Learn more

Case study

Scaling external innovation without compromising speed

Discover how Kraft Heinz leverages Halo to find stealth startups, up-and-coming researchers and solutions from adjacent industries.

Learn more

In the news: Learn about Halo’s impact.
March 5, 2025
BASF
BASF & Halo: BASF doubles down on open innovation—the key to agile, sustainable solutions—renewing its agreement with Halo
Read more
Feb 28, 2025
Future Food-tech
Read more
October 16, 2024
Fast Company
Read more
May 22, 2024
National Science Foundation
Read more
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