Are consortium research ventures effective ways to seek solutions to broad research needs?
Bykowski: Yes, but you have to consider the precompetitiveness of the objective, as well as the potential market for the product, the regulations, and, in some cases, the politics. In many cases, there is a need to develop technology in response to regulations or in response to competition outside the consortia group. Each member is hoping to obtain a generic database from the consortium that they can take back and use to improve their product to increase sales or to respond to regulations, so it really depends on the objective of the consortium. Fisher: I agree. With broad research needs, if you’re talking about precompetitive work that is common to several clients, they can later specialize it to their own needs. Consortium research ventures are well suited to these types of applications. It may be because they have similar regulatory requirements or perhaps similar competitive pressures against other industries. Bass: In addition to sharing costs so a company gets more research than
