University-industry research collaboration (U-IRC) is an initiative that significantly impacts both partners. The university can enhance the quality of education, research, and new knowledge creation. Besides, the industry can profit from creating knowledge, technology, and innovation. However, in establishing a successful collaboration, the gaps between university and industry researchers should be reduced. During a collaboration, partners often face the issues of financial limitations, time, communication, cultural differences, and intellectual property that hinder the collaboration from success. Thus, this study was conducted to identify the factors for successful U-IRC. This study determined five factors such as shared value, trust, communication, motivation, and commitment. This is a pilot study conducted among 30 university researchers, focusing on determining the reliability of the research questions and identifying which factors influence the researchers in establishing successful U-IRC. The result shows all constructs have internal consistency, and the high level of acceptance factors indicated by the researchers is commitment, followed by communication and shared value. These findings can acknowledge the collaboration between stakeholders such as universities, industry, and government on the success factors. Thus, it helps to improve current practices and develop more successful collaboration in the future.