The Clemson Vehicular Electronics Consortium

The easiest way for a company to sponsor research at the university while still maintaining certain intellectual property rights is to become a member of the Clemson University Vehicular Electronics Consortium. Companies with a consortium membership can work with university researchers on specific research projects and at the same time keep abreast of all other projects being performed by the consortium. The benefits of the consortium structure for industry partners are:

• pooled resources
• reduced indirect costs
• a common legal agreement
• protection of company proprietary information
• timely research and reporting
• students and research scholars.

The consortium fee is $65,000 for a one-year membership that is renewable annually at the discretion of the industry partner. The funding from all industry partners is pooled to address fundamental issues related to automotive and aerospace vehicular electronics. Member companies share in all research results of the consortium, and are able to realize value beyond sponsorship of a single university project. Further, the university has reduced indirect costs for funding through the industry consortium that allows for the largest fraction of the funding to be devoted to accomplishing the research objectives.

The legal agreement for the consortium is common for all industry partners. The agreement provides industry partners a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use intellectual property developed by the university within the framework of the consortium. Company proprietary information, however, is strictly protected. All students sign an agreement to protect company proprietary information as part of their research assistantship in the laboratory, and non-disclosure agreements are also signed by the university with each company.

Research is reported on a quarterly basis through research progress briefs. These reports are delivered through the consortium's password protected web site. In addition, there are regular meetings of all the industry partners at which research progress is reported. Research focus areas and directions are determined by the industry partners in conjunction with Clemson Vehicular Electronics Laboratory faculty at the consortium meetings.

Another benefit of consortium membership is early access to students and visiting scholars, who may be potential job candidates at a company. Industry engineers work closely with students in many cases to provide guidance and direction on projects, and have an opportunity to assess various students' skill levels.

Return to CVEL Home Page