Industry-university collaboration in technical communication

It is noted that, as technical communication has evolved, the issue of cooperation between corporations and universities has also evolved. Industry/academic cooperation, which was once viewed as being as useless for technical communication as for liberal arts topics, has evolved to where enlightened companies and visionary universities now see it in the same light as do other technical disciplines: natural, easy, and highly beneficial to all concerned. The authors´ findings and recommendations are based on their experiences with various levels of cooperation between the University of Washington´s Department of Technical Communication and several technology companies, including the Industrial Affiliates Program and one of the Affiliates Program´s participants, Microsoft Corporation. Attention is given to levels of cooperation, types of projects, and advantages for companies and for universities