PreScouter provides corporate innovation leaders with the data and insight on which to base product development and R&D planning decisions. PreScouter deploys small, custom-selected teams of elite Scholars to connect corporate clients to new markets, commercialize technologies, industry-impacting startups, and more. Our growing list of 300+ clients includes GE Healthcare, Coca-Cola, BAE Systems, Clorox, and Volvo.


PreScouter was founded in 2010 in Evanston, IL by four Northwestern University graduate students (two MBAs and two PhDs). The idea for the company was sparked by a seemingly avoidable Tragedy in China and the struggles of a Northwestern alumnus – an R&D Director at a medical device company – in accessing university research. PreScouter has established a global network of aspiring and accomplished scientists, engineers, economists, analysts, and developers who share a common ambition: to apply their academic knowledge and problem-solving skills to challenges faced in industry. As the company has grown - having delivered over 1500 projects to more than 300 clients - this "Global Scholar Network" has also grown to include over 2000 Advanced Degree Researchers from five continents, representing the top research universities in the world.