An Agile Translation Process for complex innovations: An Industry/University Cooperative Research Center case study

The National Science Foundation Industry & University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) program is intended to foster productive collaboration between industry organizations and academia. The focus of the I/UCRC research site herein is on the application of technology within the complex extended enterprise. The center´s goal is to conduct research that is of interest to both the industry sponsor and the university partner, with the provision that the industry organization must provide major support to the center. In this paper, we describe the Agile Translation Process (ATP) for complex innovations that was developed at the center. The process meets the constraints of the academic calendar, the knowledge needs and the typical length of stay for a master´s student, and the availability constraints of the students. At the same time, the process is designed to provide value to the industry sponsor. Specifically, it describes how the process meets the needs of technology consumers in industry seeking to derive tactical value through the funding of the center. In addition, we demonstrate how to derive research results for technology providers through subsequent activities. We also provide metrics from the center for a period of five years, which show, in particular, the benefit of using the ATP method over the last three years. These metrics provide insights on how to reconcile tactical industry needs with the long-term research and funding goals of academia, while understanding the innovations needed within complex contexts. This case study also provides insights on concurrently meeting the needs of all stakeholders - including industry clients, translational faculty members, adjunct faculty from partner companies, graduate students, and the center´s affiliated research faculty - within the constraints of the academic calendar. By using an agile translation process and a set of expanded performance metrics, the center effectively applies research to bring in- ovation to its industry partners.