| Faculty and administrators at engineering and science-oriented colleges and universities are continuously seeking proven models to expand their research and educational program. Current trends indicate an increased utilization of the Organized Research Unit (ORU) structure to engage industry in collaborative research activities similar to those models credited by leading research universities with broadening their institution's research program. Despite the growing popularity of the ORU as a mechanism to nurture university-industry collaborative research activities, these units have not been thoroughly studied in higher education. A review of the literature indicated a limited amount of empirical data and fragmented information that explored the strategic policies, procedures, and experiences of the senior research core to develop and sustain industry-university collaborative research activities. The main focus of this study was to build upon the limited available information by providing a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of information gathered from the university researchers to understand the pertinent issues that contribute to the effectiveness of the ORU model in building and sustaining collaborative research activities with industry. In order to accomplish this goal, the following study used a Case Study design to investigate how three ORUs housed at the top 40 Carnegie Classification I Research Universities sustained collaborative research activities within one industry. ORUs selected for investigation conducted research relevant to the same information technologies manufacturing industry; were established over 10 years ago and receive at least {dollar}1M annually in financial funding from industry. An interview protocol with open-ended questions was developed for the data collection phase. Fourteen senior ORU university team members were interviewed. The main focus of the study was from the university experiential perspective, however, to validate the responses a small pool of industry executives were interviewed and their comments were included. Thematic categories and patterns were identified and analyzed in-depth. A sample of categories that emerged included the development of the research program, industry basis for continued involvement; and types of interactions between the university and industry. To enhance the understanding of issues related to sustaining collaborative research activities between the university and industry, an extensive historical description of each ORU was included. |
