Featured Publications

In the late 90s, strategic planners at Mars, Incorporated sought outside expertise to expand the company’s research and development capabilities. Looking to tap into MIT’s vast resources, they joined the Industrial Liaison Program. “Since then, the ILP has been very responsive, expeditiously setting up appointments with researchers and proactively anticipating our needs,” says John Helferich, Vice President of research and development at Mars. “This is a unique relationship which provides a comprehensive overview for all the help we were looking for, and more.”

Merck KGaA, in the U.S. known as EMD, is the oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company in the world and a leading innovator in oncology and cardiometabolic drugs, liquid crystals and organic light-emitting diodes for displays, and effect pigments. Merck has been a member of MIT’s Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) since 2000. Through Merck’s Office of Technology, the company joined ILP to enable the company’s specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals and life science and analytics businesses to draw useful expertise and advice from MIT’s faculty, identify future business and product opportunities, develop collaborations with selected MIT researchers active in fields of value to Merck, and find ways to apply MIT talent to Merck’s scientific and engineering challenges.

As a market leader in novel electronic materials, TDK has consistently strived to expand its horizons through innovative R&D partnerships with academia. In 1985, the company was particularly interested in gaining access to state-of-the-art research and expertise in materials science and engineering. In due time, TDK found what it was looking for at MIT, and a great deal more. Its decision to join the Industrial Liaison Program (as part of funding the TDK Professorship in Materials Science and Engineering) launched a robust collaborative relationship with MIT that continues to this day. “We’ve been conducting joint research and development projects and sponsored research programs with about 60 universities, but MIT is the only institute that has a liaison office like the ILP,” notes Dr. Shigekazu Sumita, Director of TDK’s Corporate R&D Planning Department. “ILP support has enabled us to build amicable relations with MIT researchers for over sixteen years.”

For over thirty years, TASC, Inc. has provided engineering and information technology services to U.S. government agencies and other clients, solving complex problems in computer network security,
Air Force logistics, radar and communication systems, reconnaissance satellite mapping applications, and other areas. To remain on the cutting edge in multiple disciplines, TASC has long sought out expertise beyond its own borders. Drawn to the breadth and quality of research at MIT, the company joined the Industrial Liaison Program in 1987.

Founded in 1861 as a land grant university dedicated to supporting the industrial revolution, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is proud of its long and fruitful relationship with industry. Today, it leads the way in developing innovative approaches to industrial R&D investment and collaboration, including consortia and “mutual-fund” type research portfolios.

ABB has a long history of engaging in research activities at MIT both as the sole sponsor of projects and as a cosponsor of larger consortia activities. Together, MIT and ABB are forging creative solutions for many important problems.