Title: Center for Interfacial Engineering: an experiment in building industry-university partnerships

Authors: D. Fennell Evans, Elizabeth Starbuck, Thomas J. Kiresuk, Robert E. Gee

Addresses: Respectively, Director, and Associate Director for Technology Transfer, Center for Interfacial Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. ' Respectively, Director, and Associate Director for Technology Transfer, Center for Interfacial Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. ' Evaluation Consultant to the Center for Interfacial Engineering, USA. ' Senior Fellow, Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Abstract: This paper describes the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Interfacial Engineering at the University of Minnesota. There are five separately authored sections to the paper. In Section 1, the Director presents his view of technology development and management, a review of the essential characteristics of the Center, and his management philosophy which stresses strategic planning and program integration. Section 2 describes the research program, which emphasizes partnership with industry, integration of projects, and program development through the process of strategic planning. Section 3 describes the Center|s evaluation system, a summary of the evaluation of its Small Company Program, and discusses the evaluation of less tangible but essential characteristics of the Center. Two models of technology transfer are offered by the leaders of the Center|s successful technology transfer program, one based on the concepts of heterogeneous chemical reaction, and the other on biological cell receptor analysis and functioning.

Keywords: interfacial engineering; strategic planning; technology transfer; evaluation; research management; engineering research centres; National Science Foundation; NSF; interdisciplinary integration; university-industry cooperation; industrial collaboration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1993.025801

International Journal of Technology Management, 1993 Vol.8 No.6/7/8, pp.622 - 651

Published online: 24 May 2009 *

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