It’s an old problem: Innovative research takes place in academic laboratories, and businesses need researchers to find ways to make their products better, but the two can’t figure out how to work with each other.
The National Institute for Standards and Technology recently gave a $950,000 grant to Catalyst Connection, a consulting group that works with manufacturers in southwestern Pennsylvania, for its new approach toward connecting research and industry.
Catalyst plans to find out what the needs of local manufacturers are and then connect them to researchers in labs at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and the National Energy Technology Laboratory. Through the initiative, which also includes Innovation Works and the Pennsylvania NanoMaterials Commercialization Center, experts will work with companies and researchers to introduce their ideas to the marketplace. Catalyst is focusing on small and medium firms that are not likely to have researchers on staff.
The idea behind the federal grant is to find a model for innovation that can work in other parts of the country, says Bob Cunningham, Catalyst’s VP of regional initiatives. And if it works, it will mean new products being developed in southwestern Pennsylvania and more workers pumping money into the regional economy.
Sources: Bob Cunningham and Tom Reed, Catalyst Connection
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen