University-Industry Research Partnerships

Carter Administration actions to enhance basic research and stimulate industrial innovation have focused attention on the importance of formal university-industry cooperative relationships in science and engineering. This paper examines the status of and potential for university-industry research consortia and research partnerships and the current and prospective roles of the federal government in stimulating such relationships. A useful typology of university-industry relationships is presented. 

New Alliances and Partnerships in American Science and Engineering, Govemment-University-Industry Research Roundtable, 1986. 

Several of the presentations provided case studies in research partnerships, some from a university view (see Wakeham, Evans), others from industry (see Tao, Kohlbrand, Sloane), and still others from the federal government (see Jackson, Powell). In addition, various issues were raised that highlight the changing nature of research teams and the environment in which they are formed. Further elaboration on each of these points can be found in the accompanying chapters. 

BUILDING INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS CORPORATE PERSPECTIVE... 

At Air Products we do work at national laboratories. We also work with other companies, both large companies, in the case of Chemical Industry Fnvironmental Technology Projects—a limited liability company that we formed with DuPont, Akzo Nobel—and with a lot of Small Business Innovation Research-type companies that bring a lot to the table from a feasibility standpoint in terms of new ideas. But in the remainder of this paper, I focus on the industry-university relationships and partnerships. 

The United States has unparalleled resources of science and technology. Its industrial research capability, universities, nonprofit research institutions, and federal laboratories are great national treasures. But in a time of severe financial constraints and heightened international competition, the Nation must maximize its return on those assets.. . . The time is ripe for bold steps to capitalize on the promise of partnership. ... 

With rising numbers of university-industry partnerships, cooperative research centres, and the like, there come questions of ownership of intellectual property (IP). It is a subject rife with misunderstanding. 

The United States has become the major exporter of soybeans and soybean products in the world, and Japan continues to be one of its major trading partners. A research partnership played a role in this development. In 1958, to learn more about the needs of the Japanese food processing industry, the NCAUR invited Japanese scientists to Peoria. Dr. Tokuji Watanabi from the National Food Research Institute demonstrated the methods for traditional Japanese tofu making so that U.S. soybean varieties could be evaluated and selected for the Japanese market. Similarly, Dr. Kazuo Shibasaki from Tohoku University partnered in re-... 

Dr. Schramm has won several national awards for his research, including the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering - Bayer Award in Industrial Practice and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada - Conference Board of Canada Award for Best Practices in University-Industry R D Partnership. He is a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada, a past Director of the Association of the Chemical Profession of Alberta, and a member of the American Chemical Society. He has 100 scientific publications and patents in the open literature and over 220 proprietary research reports for industry. This is his fifth book, following Emulsions Fundamentals and Applications in the Petroleum Industry, The Language of Colloid and Interface Science, Foams Fundamentals and Applications in the Petroleum Industry, and Suspensions Fundamentals and Applications in the Petroleum Industry. 

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