# Lab Partners ## Partners Creating partnerships is, next to your lab team, a second element in building a successful lab. **Partners** are more than just stakeholders. They do not just show up to participate because they have an interest in the challenge that the lab is trying to tackle. Partners are invested in the lab’s success and actively contribute to it. This means more than just providing funding, although this is often an important part. Partners share knowledge, networks, and sometimes even staff or facilities. Through this, they help increase the convening power and legitimacy of the lab. Having the right partners can make or break a lab, just like ensuring their role in the lab (think: governance and communications) should be done thoughtfully and effectively. And remember, choosing the right partner and providing value to them can leverage a lab enormously. ### **Lab partners provide:** * Legitimacy * Funding * Resources/ Expertise * Implementation * Network ### **Lab partners expect:** * Decision-making * Results * Recognition * Learning * Network The table below describes the roles, competencies, and success factors not only for your core team (described in the section above) but also for participants and your partners and funders. ![](/files/-LisBGCu8HNB5wPD1aFi) ## Finding the Right Partners What to look for: * Strategic alignment: what is the interest of your partner to support the lab/ work to solve the problem? * What they can bring: The 'best' partners never bring just funding, but also contribute in terms of network, expertise etc. * The right mix of partners: Having multiple partners who complement one another * Value proposition: How is the lab able to help them? --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://mars-solutions-lab.gitbook.io/living-guide-to-social-innovation-labs/being/resourcing-and-team/lab-partners.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.