iCyPhy Membership
The iCyPhy Center is interested in forming and maintaining meaningful relationships with industry, small businesses, and government agencies. Solidification of the research interests of a member of the Center is done through a membership agreement that outlines the roles of the member and university through the period of the relationship. Our current members are: Denso, Siemens, and Toyota
Our goal as a Center is to find interested partners who have identified iCyPhy as a general research area, and are willing to start a relationship based on the iCyPhy research goals and the benefits received through interaction. iCyPhy members have access to world-class researchers and visionaries, and can leverage government-funded research that is performed by the Center. They receive feedback on the progress of the Center through formal reviews and participate in the setting of goals and research directions.
Relationship, not Sponsorship
Membership in iCyPhy is not work-for-hire, but rather participation in a broad, long-term agenda focused on pre-competitive research. Members accrue benefits through person-to-person interactions with visionary leaders, some of the best graduate student researchers anywhere, and other members (even competitors) in the context of long-term, pre-competitive research. They also get early access to software tools, and, at appropriate levels of commitment, the opportunity to place Visiting Industrial Fellows who can be resident at the university and perform research alongside students and faculty.
Principles of Intellectual Property
iCyPhy researchers are interested in maximizing the impact of their research. To achieve this, iCyPhy maintains an open atmosphere that encourages early and frequent publication and other public dissemination of research results. The emphasis is on open collaborative projects with multiple participants (and often, multiple funding sources). Members do not expect to get exclusive access to intellectual property, software, or research data. Instead, they get access to insights about trends and opportunities, foundational theories and techniques, open-source software, and people.
How does my company join?
In order to become a iCyPhy Member, your first step is to begin a conversation with one of the Principal Investigators or the Executive Director, see iCyPhy Center Personnel. After beginning this conversation, we will work with you to choose the appropriate level of interaction for your company, and then finalize the membership agreement.
Length of Membership
When becoming a member of iCyPhy we encourage a length of 5 years, with the option to end the agreement at the end of each year. The reason for this length is to avoid institutional delays each year, thus providing more time for research and relationships.