1997 TMS Annual Meeting: Monday Abstracts

SUCCESSFUL UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY LINKAGES FOR A GLOBAL ECONOMY: Session II

Session Chairperson: Dr. Krishna Rajan, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Materials Engineering Department, MRS-110, Troy, NY 12180-8554

2:00 pm

TITLE TBA: Mr. Jeff Lawrence, Associate Administrator of Legislative Affairs, NASA Headquarters, Suite 9L33, Washington, DC 20546

2:30 pm

THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES: Industry-Academic-Government Cooperation: Mr. Ken Kay, Podesta Associates, 1001 G. Street NW, Suite 900E, Washington, DC 20001

Abstract not available.

3:00 pm BREAK

3:15 pm

BRIDGING THE UNIVERSITY AND INDUSTRY CULTURES: A Canadian Perspective: J.K. Brimacombe, O.C., Alcan Chair in Materials Process Engineering, The Centre for Metallurgical Process Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Room 112-2355 East Mail, Vancouver, British Columbia V8T 1Z4, Canada

Although encompassing a land mass roughly the same as that of the United States, Canada has only one-tenth of the U.S. population. Consequently to sustain major industries which serve large markets, Canada by necessity is a nation of global traders; indeed Canada and the United States are the worldís largest trading partners. Notwithstanding a strong and growing manufacturing sector, Canada has relied on her abundant natural resources ñ minerals, petroleum, forests and fishery ñ to buttress her economy. The development of advanced materials has been important but less so than in the United States, largely because Canadaís military-based research has been small compared to that of its southern counterpart. Thus research at Canadian universities has not lost a focus on the natural resource industries even while developing programs in advanced materials. This balance has been underpinned by the enlightened funding policy of the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council which has strongly encouraged university-industry linkages. NSERC programs are described briefly and illustrations of university-industry collaboration, drawn from the authorís experience, are presented.

3:45 pm

STATUS-UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH IN JAPAN: Professor Shuji Hanada, Institute of Materials Research, Tohoku University, Katahira 2-1-1, Sendai, Japan

There are two types of universities in Japan; national universities and private universities. Basically, the former are supported mainly by the government (The ministry of education, culture and science-the Monbusho), while the latter partly by the government. Among them, the national universities are active to collaborative research with industry. In this talk the various systems and their activities concerning the research collaboration between national universities and industry will be addressed. In addition some recent topics will be mentioned briefly. From the early 1980s, new systems of joint research with the private sector, endowed chairs and funded research departments and centers for cooperative research were introduced. Consequently, the exchange of researchers between universities and the private sector industries has become quite active, and the sources of research funds for national universities has become diversified. Currently over three thousand outside researchers participate in research activities at universities and the total amount of funding from industry has become almost as large as the Monbusho grants-in-aid budget.

In the system of the joint research with the private sector, national universities receive researchers and funding from private industry. Then university researchers and private industry researchers combine efforts to do joint research on common projects, to enhance the likelihood of achieving excellent results. Under the commissioned research system, scientific researchers in universities are commissioned by industrial firms, government research institutes, local governments or other outside organizations to carry out research by contract. No researchers from the industrial world join in carrying out the research at the universities. In the commissioned researchers system, national universities accept technicians and researchers currently employed in private industry and other outside agencies. They are given guidance in doing research at the graduate level, which helps them to improve their abilities. Endowed chairs can be established within a faculty or department of a national university. Funded research departments can be established in a research laboratory attached to the university or in an inter-university research institute. The wages of the visiting professors or associate/assistant professors, who are appointed by the universities, and the educational and research expenses of the chairs and departments are paid totally from the endowments from the private sectors. Many national universities have Centers for Cooperative Research. These centers employ professors as part-time directors as well as full-time associate professors and part-time visiting professors. They are equipped with all purpose research facilities and provide technical consultation and training of technicians and researchers, in addition to their functions of engaging in joint and commissioned research. National universities accept donations from both private organizations and individuals to support scientific research and educational activities. Quite recently, the ministry of international trade and industry (MITI-The tsusansho) has started supporting and funding basic research at universities whose results will bring new industries in future.