The National Science Foundation's Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers Program Looking Back, Moving Forward (2007) / Chapter Skim
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5 Assessment of the Impact of MRSEC Collaboration with Industry
5 Assessment of the Impact of MRSEC Collaboration with Industry
Pages 143-161
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request for proposals. To implement this goal, each Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC)
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It is important to note that industrial collaboration includes cooperation and interaction with relevant sectors involved with the application of materials research beyond just commercial industries. Consequently, industrial collabora tion includes national laboratories and other federal entities (e.g., Department of Defense [DOD]
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The information gathered by the committee provided a self-consistent picture of the industrial collaboration effort, which was in line with the NSF view that there are numerous effective ways to address the program goals for industrial collaboration and knowledge transfer. Workshops, short courses, and symposia were among the most common approaches to engaging industry and disseminating knowledge.
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The explicit linking of a MRSEC with a related industrial consortium program provides good synergy, but it complicates the assessment of the MRSEC industrial collaboration effort. Some collaboration efforts are specifically focused on engaging individual companies.
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One critical aspect of industrial collaborations is intellectual or proprietary property. The committee discerned from discussing this issue with a number of MRSEC directors that proprietary research with industry is not pursued with MRSEC funding.
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10 Percentage Spent on Industrial Collaboration 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 Total Budget ($ thousands) FIGURE 5.1 Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC)
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As previously noted, the explicit MRSEC program requirement for industrial collaboration has been effective at ensuring that all centers give attention to the program's intent with respect to knowledge transfer, even at institutions that do not have a strong history of industrial interactions. The inherent flexibility provided by the NSF program managers in meeting the program goals seems to work well in that centers take different approaches, including some creative ones, to meet the intent of the program effectively.
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Nevertheless, if knowledge transfer to spur industrial innovation is a program driver, creating a more effec tive network among related MRSEC research efforts should be an important goal for the future. ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INDUSTRIAL COLLABORATION The committee looked closely at the impact of industrial collaborations with MRSEC partners.
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It may be that a center's patenting activity is more firmly rooted in the university's culture and emphasis on IP and licensing than being related to its success in industrial collaboration and knowledge transfer. Differences in internal university policy and state law exist also across MRSECs, which can affect patenting activity.
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Another potential metric of the effectiveness of industrial outreach activities at a MRSEC is the number of industrial collaborators involved. The number of industrial collaborations for a MRSEC is reported annually.
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Nevertheless, an active industrial partnership effort has a positive impact on the research in that industrial challenges often stimulate new science. Consequently, knowledge transfer goes in both directions, and MRSECs see the benefits of this exchange.
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It is tempting to conclude that the industrial collaboration part of the MRSEC experience has little impact on the career decisions of those trained in materials science. Industrial Perspectives The committee found that the view of MRSECs from the industrial perspec tive was quite mixed.
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who are then employed in industry, 1996-2005. SOURCE: Division of Materials Research, National Science Foundation.
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The committee sees that such partnerships can be very valuable and recommends that such partnerships be encouraged. NSF Perspective The NSF sees the MRSEC program performing exceptionally in enhancing industrial outreach and knowledge transfer.
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," NSF MRSEC program managers gave the following perspectives: • Dissemination of knowledge, more multifaceted than individual principal investigator efforts; • Enhancing the educational experience -- educating students by providing opportunities for industrial collaborations; • Leveraging NSF funding of centers through industry support and projects; • Intellectual property -- patents and licensing; • Contributing to the establishment and success of new businesses; • Being a national resource, especially by making unique facilities available; and • Informing the research -- using industrial challenges to help catalyze the formulation of research directions within the MRSEC. This perspective is based on a belief that industrial interactions allow a center to magnify its impact in a way that is greater than the impact that an individual could create.
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ERCs are expected to create an "interdisciplinary research environment where academe and industry join in partnership to advance funda mental knowledge and engineered systems" and "are expected to be self-sustaining after ten years when NSF support ceases" by industry support and other means.7 There are important differences between these centers and MRSECs with respect to industrial collaboration. MRSECs are research-driven, and industrial outreach should be a natural outcome of the research focus.
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was used for industrial outreach. More typically, MRSEC industrial partnerships are supported primarily by university and/or state funding and are usually assisted by a university liaison program.
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While it is dif ficult to evaluate the impact of the industrial outreach efforts clearly, the commit tee believes that the MRSEC program is generally meeting its goals and that the industrial outreach is valuable. Recommendation: NSF should establish metrics for evaluating the effec tiveness of industrial collaboration and technology transfer.
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Industrial outreach and knowledge-transfer effort is inherently based on interactions among people. Encouraging more personnel exchanges, such as student internships, extended sabbaticals for industrial researchers at MRSECs, visits by MRSEC faculty to key industry partners, significant industrial involvement on MRSEC advisory boards, and so on, will be essential to effective knowledge transfer and skill development (especially for students)
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