Funding for Smart Materials Research Center
Title:Assistant Professor
Industry: Academic Research
Company: College of Engineering
Goal: Increase research funding
Result: A four year funding
commitment ($320,000) from a key industrial partner
BizLogx worked with a faculty member in the College of
Engineering at a major university. He and his colleagues
established a National Science Foundation (NSF) industry-university
research center to develop and apply smart materials to
the automotive industry. As a condition to the receipt
of funding from the NSF, the faculty members had to obtain
industry funding.
To secure the minimum annual $300,000 industry funding, the
faculty members approached a number of major automotive companies
(OEMs and suppliers) and submitted funding proposals. In
one case, the proposal did not address the company’s needs. The
company wanted to fund work that produced a competitive advantage
and a return on investment but they were not certain of the
best research approach. With the company’s decision
to not provide the funding, the faculty member realized there
was a disparity between the company’s needs and the language
of research that the faculty utilized in the proposal and
discussions.
Through training in the CustomerCentric Selling (CCS) methodology,
skills, and tools, we provided this capability to the faculty
member. CCS helped the faculty member prepare questions
and structure conversations with the automotive company executives. With
the questions and structure, the faculty member was able
to identify the company’s greatest needs, quantify the potential
impact of the various projects involving smart materials,
and link those projects to the expertise of the faculty members.
Based on these conversations and the preparation of a revised
proposal, one that used the language and targeted the company’s
expressed needs, the company committed to fund $80,000 for
the first year with the intent of supporting the research
for the next 3 years ($320,000 total).
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