Innovative EPS Marketplace Bridges Academia and Industry to Promote Sustainability and Collaboration
The NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Translational Applications of Nanoscale Multiferroic Systems (TANMS), is headquartered at UCLA. During the TANMS 10-year timeframe, the Center dedicated considerable effort to enhancing industry engagement in a more efficient and comprehensive manner compared to traditional university approaches. While industries have always had the option to negotiate research contracts directly with universities, this process often proves burdensome and time-consuming due to issues surrounding intellectual property (IP), publication constraints, and insufficient indirect support.
In 2022, TANMS developed and introduced an innovative business model known as Engineering Products and Services (EPS). The primary objective of this business model is to overcome the obstacles that have hindered industry collaboration with universities. Instead of solely focusing on basic research studies, the EPS model offers an array of novel materials, hardware, design services, and testing services that are available for purchase. Essentially, it grants industry access to established discoveries or published research that would prove challenging for most industries to reproduce without a significant investment. Moreover, the TANMS-EPS center takes responsibility for managing advertisement, business engagement, and production aspects related to these products, thereby significantly increasing the indirect support provided to the Center. Consequently, TANMS is establishing a stronger bridge with industries interested in pursuing the advancements made by the Center over the past decade in a sustainable business model.
By establishing the EPS marketplace, TANMS empowers faculty members to generate additional revenue by offering previously developed products and processes to external entities on a fee basis. These commodities typically originate from completed sponsored research awards or contracts. The utilization of any specialized equipment that was purchased is not restricted, and there are no IP concerns. The establishment of a marketplace for Products and Services achieves several objectives for the ERC, professors, universities, and industry. For the ERC, it provides a sustainable operational model by generating revenue through these sales. Additionally, it offers a mechanism for industry to access technological developments and further their own R&D efforts without lengthy negotiations over IP rights. Professors also benefit from this arrangement, as it provides an additional funding source for their labs and fosters collaboration with industry, which leads to future research opportunities. Finally, this marketplace enables the translation of developed technology from the university to industry, serving as a bridge for these innovations to have a broader impact on the U.S. society at large.
By establishing the EPS marketplace, TANMS empowers faculty members to generate additional revenue by offering previously developed products and processes to external entities on a fee basis. These commodities typically originate from completed sponsored research awards or contracts. The utilization of any specialized equipment that was purchased is not restricted, and there are no IP concerns. The establishment of a marketplace for Products and Services achieves several objectives for the ERC, professors, universities, and industry. For the ERC, it provides a sustainable operational model by generating revenue through these sales. Additionally, it offers a mechanism for industry to access technological developments and further their own R&D efforts without lengthy negotiations over IP rights. Professors also benefit from this arrangement, as it provides an additional funding source for their labs and fosters collaboration with industry, which leads to future research opportunities. Finally, this marketplace enables the translation of developed technology from the university to industry, serving as a bridge for these innovations to have a broader impact on the U.S. society at large.
Explanation/ background: Since its establishment, the TANMS ERC has made significant advancements in the field of multiferroics. This includes the development of groundbreaking materials like thin film Terfenol-D, customized testing capabilities such as the Magnetic-Optic Kerr Effect (MOKE) measurement system, and unique modeling software like Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) analysis using distributed computing. These innovations have generated considerable interest from members of TANMS's Industry Advisory Board, leading to industry demand for access to these advancements. To facilitate access, the Center has found that a business contract for specific products or services is the most suitable approach, eliminating the need for complex IP negotiations (as in the case of a sponsored research agreement) or significant financial investments by companies (as required for licensing university-owned IP).
As TANMS aimed to establish a sustainable operational model, the Center capitalized on its strength in innovation and evaluated the various macroeconomic forces impacting universities, industries, and technology translation. Through this evaluation, TANMS identified several trends that supported its decision to develop and offer TANMS Engineering Products and Services (EPS). Factors considered in this process include incentives for the laboratory, adherence to university policies, the importance of completed university studies to industry, the United States' need for translational activities, and the creation of a self-sustaining platform that does not require direct university support.
The conclusion was that TANMS-EPS can achieve these objectives and address the industry's need for a more expedited product development timeline, optimistically reducing it from 5-10 years to 1-3 years. In TANMS, specialized equipment, materials, and computational models are already in place and operational, staffed by trained operators. Industries can establish short-term contracts solely to advance their R&D efforts without incurring long-term financial implications such as hiring new personnel or acquiring equipment. Moreover, these short-term business contracts eliminate IP negotiations as they focus exclusively on completed and published studies at the university, with each party bringing their own IP to the table and no joint R&D or development of new IP taking place.
In summary, TANMS has taken the lead in building a new bridge between the ERC and industry; and due to the high demand, the Center is expanding its efforts beyond the faculty associated with the ERC to include faculty across the entire UCLA School of Engineering.
