The Academic Research Centre

Abstract

The authors argue that the academic research centre can perform an invaluable function in coordinating the flow of information and knowledge between academic departments in a university and between the university and industry. To illustrate their argument, they offer a case analysis of the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware and show that the Center not only opens up new sources of funding and collaborative research opportunities, but also enhances the skills of the students who collaborate in its programmes. They also describe new federal funding initiatives and point out that recent US government programmes are continuing to integrate research centres to solve real-world problems in close cooperation with industry.