Best practices in sponsored research

Summary form only given. Whether basic research or problem solving is required, companies are depending more and more on outsourcing using university or independent laboratories for work that was previously done inside the corporation. At the same time, companies are attempting to reduce the cycle time for product development and to accelerate the rate of new product introduction. To meet these challenges requires the timely and effective use of the R&D solutions generated by sponsored research and external partners. To address this problem, the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) sponsored development of a workshop. This paper presents the findings of this work. The workshop used the experienced experts from industry, research universities and the SRC to identify the biggest problems in cooperative research and best practices which can address them. The workshop program consisted of the following elements: expert presentations, exercises and discussions, and a panel presentation on university Total Quality Programs. The objective was to identify best practices that could be used to make the research process more effective. The findings of the workshop will be useful, not only to those involved in sponsored research but also to those working in other research settings