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BOSTON - Trying to boost the output of its research labs, Hewlett-Packard Co. wants to get more help from scientists in universities.

HP and other technology companies already collaborate with academics all the time. But HP’s new research director, Prith Banerjee, believes his company’s school partnerships would produce better results if they were more organized.

So under a program beginning Wednesday, Banerjee is creating a more formal structure, with HP acting somewhat like a government agency making a grant. HP will solicit applications from university researchers, then fund dozens of projects for up to three years. Each grant would cover the cost of a graduate student researcher.

Patents from the work done at universities could stay in the schools, but HP would have first crack at licensing the technologies. Or the resulting intellectual property could be made freely available to anyone, as IBM agreed to do in 2006 when it established its own plan for many of its university collaborations.

IBM research spokesman Steven Tomasco also pointed out that his company has formally doled out grants to academics for a long time.

“HP is just catching on to this idea?” Tomasco said.