CERCS Program for Industry Partners

Program for Industry Partners (PIP)

Industry partners may interact with CERCS in several ways. A typical interaction is one that assumes a membership level of $45,000 per year, which is typically comprised of a student fellowship and a minimum contribution of $5,000 per year to support CERCS programs. This permits the industry partner to benefit from CERCS organizational support while also working with a specific CERCS faculty and student, thereby building the close working relationships CERCS seeks with its partners. At this level of support, a company may also appoint a representative to our CERCS Industrial Advisory Board (additional membership in the College of Computing Industrial Partners Association is not required). Partner companies are also invited to: (1) participate in the yearly CERCS Research Review days, which include numerous demos, project presentations by faculty and students, and proposals for new research, (2) advise CERCS on strategic directions in its research and educational programs, (3) receive exclusive updates on CERCS activities, (4) have their staff visit CERCS, including stays of weeks or months. In fact, our faculty have had visitors from companies like Sony Corp. and others in the past and have found this to be of significant mutual benefit.

Proposed CERCS NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center

Invitation to join CERCS as a contributing member
Prospectus for establishing a NSF I/UCRC
CERCS has the following Partnership Agreement with sponsoring Industry

As an alternative or in addition to the $45,000 basic membership level, companies may also be involved in specific CERCS research efforts: (1) via explicit research contracts with CERCS faculty (a) at a level exceeding $120,000 per year, plus a donation of $5,000 cash to support CERCS programs, or (b) by donating equipment or software in the amount of at least $250,000 per year, plus $5,000 cash to support CERCS programs. Support may also be structured as consortia, where cash and equipment donations from more than one company support a major thrust area involving several faculty members. These are contractual arrangements that will be negotiated separately.

Finally, our unique relationship with startup companies in the Atlanta area, also permit us to define high intensity interactions with selected corporate sponsors that involve both CERCS and the startup company via specific contractual relationships.

Other than research contracts or consortia, company support for CERCS is in the form of gifts without specific deliverables. This policy ensures that there is no overhead on these gifts and that the totality of the money goes to supporting the CERCS Center or a specific research activity. Consistent with this gift policy, CERCS will make the findings and software developed in these projects available to all of its industrial relations partners free of charge.

For interactions defined via contractual relationships, specific rights to research output may be negotiated, including rights to prior review before publication, rights to non-exclusive technology licensing by Georgia Tech to the corporate partner, and interactions in which students working at the company (e.g., during the summer) must operate in accordance with corporate guidelines concerning intellectual property and non-disclosure of information.