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Industrial Access and Interactions Working Group

Background

Participation of industrial users in research at DOE/BES synchrotron and neutron user facilities has decreased during the past decade. To examine this issue, NUFO organized a workshop in June 2009 as part of the 2009 NUFO Annual Meeting at Argonne National Laboratory. At this workshop, five major issues were identified. Recommendations to address these issues were developed and incorporated in a final report, “Participation by Industrial Users in Research at National User Facilities: Status, Issues, and Recommendations” (available under Reports on the nufo.org Web site).

During 2010, the DOE Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) further studied this issue as part of an overall assessment of science for energy technology. Recommendations from this study, reported in a document released in August 2010 called “Science for Energy Technology, Strengthening the Link Between Basic Research and Industry,” mirrored and expanded recommendations from the NUFO 2009 report.

In May 2011, NUFO conducted a benchmarking study to assess specifically how facilities had addressed the NUFO and BESAC recommendations. The results of this study (from 52% of the NUFO facilities) suggest that there is still considerable work to be done to engage industrial users in research at national user facilities.

Accordingly, at the NUFO annual meeting in June 2011 at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a decision was made to organize a NUFO Industrial Interactions Working Group to work with industry, facilities, and sponsors to further explore and identify barriers to industrial access, as well as barriers the full implementation of previously recommended solutions. Additionally, this group may be able to strengthen the ties between sponsors and industry through education. The goals and charge for this working group follow.

Charge for the Working Group

The NUFO Industrial Interactions Working Group is charged with the following:

1. Working with current and potential industrial users to identify, in detail, the barriers they face in conducting research at national user facilities.
2. Working with facilities and sponsors to identify barriers to the implementation of recommended solutions to previously identified problems.
3. Working with industrial representatives to educate them on their responsibilities to the national user facilities and the Office of Science to ensure that the facilities can continue to provide the necessary instrumentation/capabilities/expertise needed for industrial research.

Industrial Access and Interactions Working Group List Sever: This list server is moderated.

Members

Co-chairs - David Martin (ANL), Simon Bare (UOP), Edgar Lara-Curzio (ORNL)

Steering Committee Liaison - Steve Wasserman (Eli Lilly)