RAPID: What Model for Public-Private Partnerships?: Lessons from Existing Consortia for Administration of the U.S. National Network for Manufacturing Innovation

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

This project analyzes existing U.S. consortia models, in particular, at the Semiconductor Research Corporation, to inform governance of and success metrics for the U.S. National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). It prepares insights in time to inform governance and success metrics for the Pilot Institute for Manufacturing Innovation just launched on May 8, 2012 and the 2013 expansion of NNMI. Intellectual Merit: Past research has consistently found a positive impact of consortia on the research productivity of participants in the technological areas they target. This research, however, has largely failed to provide insights into successful consortium governance. Arguably one of the most famous examples of a government-industry research consortium, and one with widely-touted success, is SEMATECH. The example of SEMATECH, however, leaves much to be desired. Perhaps most importantly, its focus is primarily on short-term (1-3 year) R&D in the context of vertical collaboration to support the advancement of equipment suppliers. Thus while successful on certain axes, SEMATECH fails to provide an example of collaborative R&D for long-term horizontally-collaborative research efforts; as a matter of fact, in this specific context, SEMATECH provides an example of early failure. And yet, it is precisely this type of horizontal coordination of long-term technology development that may be particularly crucial to advancing innovation effectively across a multitude of institutions in a vertically disintegrated supply chain, as can be critical when introducing emerging technologies into established industries and helping them develop industries of their own -- issues central to revitalizing U.S. manufacturing. Broader Impacts: With the decline of corporate R&D labs and the globalization and vertical disintegration of the supply chain, the United States innovation ecosystem faces unprecedented challenges in maintaining its economic and technological predominance, increasing jobs throughout the economy, and supporting long-term technical and economic growth. For these challenges to be met, managers in industry, government, and academia must find ways to work hand-in-hand toward meeting the common challenges facing each of them as well as the nation as a whole. In this new environment, research consortia (as intermediate forms of organization, between a single firm and the overall market) hold tremendous potential opportunities to achieve improved innovation policy outcomes.