IPRIME: Your Strategic Advantage in Materials Innovation
Accelerate Innovation
- Gain early access to fundamental materials research across critical, cross-disciplinary domains.
- Leverage academic expertise to solve your systemic R&D hurdles.
Secured Talent Pipeline
- Access multi-year Talent Identification Pipeline to over 200 high-potential PhD students and postdocs.
- Upskill your staff directly through our Industrial Fellows Program.
De-Risk R&D
- Leverage our membership model to share in the high cost and risk of exploratory research.
- Access millions in specialized equipment at reduced rates, eliminating major capital expenditure.
Strategic Influence
- Directly influence the research agenda of our faculty through Technical Advisory Committee involvement.
- First-look access to technical research updates (non-proprietary) and engage in concept ideation.
Why IPRIME is a smart R&D Investment
De-risk your R&D pipeline and secure your future workforce through the University of Minnesota's advanced materials consortium.
Outsource High-Risk or Fundamental R&D
IPRIME acts as your low-overhead Foresight R&D Arm. Researchers explore, test, and validate nascent technologies 2-10 years out taking on the risks of early-stage basic research. Company investment is amplified by grants and existing infrastructure.
The Pipeline to Next-Generation Scientific Leaders
Finding specialized PhD-level talent can be a hurdle. IPRIME membership provides a direct solution by giving you deep, multi-year engagement with the researchers whose work aligns with your future innovation growth potential.
Directly Influence the Research Agenda
Why passively read journal articles when you can actively engage with the research and researchers? Your membership guarantees a seat at the table to ensure academic discovery advances science that is relevant to companies
- Executive Steering: Your company holds a seat on the Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) to influence research direction and priorities.
- First-Look Strategic Intelligence: Get early access to pre-publications and deep research briefings.
- Pre-Competitive Problem Sourcing: Use IPRIME to co-source solutions to systemic, non-proprietary R&D hurdles in order to advance your entire sector.
IPRIME Engagement: Flexible, Focused, and Customizable
We recognize that business conditions change. IPRIME is designed to offer maximum value and flexibility to accommodate a spectrum of company interests, allowing you to tailor your membership for immediate project needs and long-term strategic goals.
Your IPRIME membership is a high-impact annual investment, focused on giving you insight and influence on IPRIME research.
- Program Participation & TAC Seats: Membership cost is calculated based on the number of the 6 core research programs you choose to join, granting you a seat on each program's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
- Industrial Fellows Program: This is a flat-fee engagement where employees can work directly with an IPRIME faculty member on a mutual research project. While this has traditionally happened on-site at UMN, there are many flexible ways that this program can be tailored to your company's needs.
- Annual Events: All company employees can attend our Annual Meeting and Mid-year Workshops for no additional event fee.
- Reduced Facility Rates: Every IPRIME member receives access to our network of supporting facilities (CharFac, Polymer Characterization Lab, etc.) for instrument use and analysis services at reduced, member-exclusive rates.
Ready to Join IPRIME?
Let's schedule a conversation to define the perfect mix of IPRIME programs and benefits that will support your innovation and align with your strategic needs.
High-touch support for maximum value
- Corporate Liaison: Your primary contact for navigating IPRIME benefits, navigating UMN opportunities, and connecting you to the right resource.
- Director: High-level strategic guidance to IPRIME program and benefits.
- Program Leaders and Faculty: Direct access to over 40 faculty members and their research expertise.
- Researchers: Learn about the research directly from the 200+ students and Postdocs working on projects.