Industry Interactions

Penn ensures strong regional impact of the Singh Center through multiple channels. First, the School of Engineering and Applied Science maintains an Office of Corporate, Foundation and Industrial Relations that serves as a portal for companies interested in developing working relationships with Penn faculty including nanoscience researchers.

Second, Penn's Center for Technology Transfer (CTT) transfers inventions and innovative knowledge to outside organizations. CTT serves as a bridge between Penn researchers and the business community and has full-time staff devoted to nanotechnology commercialization and will work closely with researchers in the Nanotechnology Center to promote commercialization outcomes of the research.

The Nanotechnology Institute (NTI) works closely with CTT and others to promote university-industry partnerships to advance nanotechnology. Founded in 2000 and supported by over $17M in funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the NTI is one of the first partnerships ever created to catalyze nanotechnology commercialization. It serves as a model that is now being emulated elsewhere. Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP), Penn and Drexel University are the founding partners. With ten other academic research institutions involved, the NTI has established a common technology transfer platform. By providing funding, intellectual property (IP), and commercialization assistance to companies and researchers, the NTI expedites the rate of nanotechnology commercialization. The NTI's successes include facilitating more than 250 IP assets and 12 licenses, providing strategic funding, information, and assistance to 20 start-up companies, and brokering and supporting multiple sponsored research agreements between companies and academic researchers.

Industry Interaction