As far as publishing goes. I've got papers that I'm working on now, and I've got several collaborations going that extend beyond my current program to faculty in other universities. So I'm building a network of people who are interested in the kind of research that I am doing that I could potentially facilitate.
The bottom line is that if I'm sitting on data or access to data, I'm going to have no shortage of academics who would like to get involved. They don't need to be superstars, just researchers who publish, and I'm doing pretty well in that department already. My immediate well-funded faculty supervisor's eyes light up when I talk to him about the kind of datasets I could potentially get for him. So there's potential funding on the academic side as well, at least on small to moderate scales.