Statistical collaboration laboratories (“stat labs”) perform three functions highly relevant toward promoting statistics in business and industry. Stat labs:
1. Train students to become effective interdisciplinary collaborators who can move between theory and practice to collaborate with various domain experts to solve real problems
2. Serve as research infrastructure for universities (by collaborating with e.g., health professionals, engineers, MBA programs), the community (collaborating with businesses and NGOs), and government officials to apply statistics to make data-driven decisions
3. Teach short courses and workshops to improve statistical skills and literacy widely.

As such, stat labs can be the perfect interface between universities and business and industry. These stat labs train students who will make an impact in business and industry, can provide business and industry exposure to how statistics can improve operations by working on business/industry projects, and can provide trainings and workshops in statistics to business and industry.

In this session, five speakers, a discussant, and a chair from the LISA 2020 Global Network, which is comprised of 37 stat labs in 11 developing countries, will describe how their stat labs are increasing domain experts’ engagement with statistics, and subsequently, increasing their appreciation for how statistics can be applied to solve problems.