HOW AN IUCRC WORKS
Funding from NSF, academia, industry
Industrial advisory board selects projects for funding
Faculty and students conduct research with industry participation
Value produced; experienced and employable student engineers, knowledge, methodologies, algorithms, software and hardware designs, process improvements and more.
Industry Advisory Board (IAB):
- Made up of representatives from the Center’s member organizations
- Minimum annual IAB membership fee is $75K
Role of the IAB:
- Establish the Center’s research agenda, bylaws, research portfolio, technology roadmap
- Select, monitor and mentor projects
Center Funding:
- IAB membership fees fund only research
- NSF funds 100% of administrative costs
- Universities contribute by limiting overhead to 10% on membership fees
Research Outcomes: All members share resulting IP of projects from all universities
https://iucrc.nsf.gov/industry/joining-a-center/membership-agreement/
Industry Benefits/Why Participate?
Leveraged Research Dollars
- Increased ROI when research is jointly funded by many companies
- Cost-effective research: overhead is 10% of membership fee vs. typical university overhead of 55% to > 80% on industry funds
- Access other NSF funding opportunities for interns, undergraduate funding, grand challenge proposal inclusion and more
Access to Research Results & IP
- One standard, simple IP agreement
- Influence project prioritization and selection via your votes and your priorities
- Opportunity to form B2B relationships for joint technology development with other member companies and industry peers
- Gain royalty-free, non-exclusive licenses on intellectual property produced in center
Access to Talent
- Hands-on Workforce Development
- Students are the most effective “technology transfer”
- Hire trained and tested graduate students for summer internships (low-cost risk mitigation) and for future full-time employment
- Gain early access to multi-university, cross-disciplinary research
- Collaborate with faculty and graduate students in various technical disciplines
- Participate in on-going research meetings, provide direction, give/get feedback
