Lockheed Martin, Fraunhofer USA put brains to work amid downturn
If innovation is the key to jumpstarting the economy, you don't have to look far in our region to see all sorts of research collaborations.
Lockheed Martin, Fraunhofer USA put brains to work amid downturn
Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Columnist
If there's one thing about uncertain times, it's that they often drive a lot of innovation.
Out of the economic malaise of the '70s came Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc., two companies that are technology giants now.
So as we prepare to pour lots of concrete and install weather stripping in every school, the nation should rededicate itself to encouraging innovation in its many forms.
Certainly, the federal government funds a lot of worthwhile research in medicine, energy, science and defense. (And yes, some of those funds are spent on questionable studies. U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn in December picked on a $100,000 federal grant to researchers studying how videogame devotees from the good ol' U.S. of A. and China play World of Warcraft.)
Spending billions of dollars more money on research may sound like a good idea, but throwing money at problems doesn't guarantee breakthroughs. Just ask any Pfizer Inc. shareholder who's watched his company spend $30.5 billion on R&D over the last four years and come up well short of any blockbuster medicines.
And thank goodness we don't need to depend solely on the federal government for research money. There are all kinds of funding sources, university-corporate partnerships, and state-driven programs. I know because we receive press releases on them every day. Yesterday brought word of three projects that show how research finds a way to get funded.
Lockheed Martin's King of Prussia operations are partnering with Carnegie Mellon University on a project that sounds as it could benefit that World of Warcraft study. The defense contractor will fund $640,000 on R&D at the Pittsburgh university's Entertainment Technology Center, which has worked with George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic and videogame maker, Electronic Arts.
Now systems engineering may sound far from cool compared with Hollywood movies and Madden NFL '09. But I can see how it might be helpful for a bewildered systems engineer to have a "natural" conversation with video persona when trouble-shooting, thanks to Carnegie Mellon's Synthetic Interview tool. (As long as Hal, let's call it, doesn't ruin the mission.)
In Newark, Del., the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology got an $8.7 million grant for clinical development of an avian influenza vaccine. The funder is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, seeded with money from their Microsoft-generated fortune.
Fraunhofer itself is a nonprofit research organization that is using technology from a for-profit drug developer called iBioPharma Inc., also in Newark. The goal is to produce new vaccines, and iBioPharma will develop it commercially. But the Gates' money means that the technology will be part of the foundation's efforts to bring critical therapies needed in the developing world.
Finally, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania invested in 49 clean energy and biofuels projects. Many of them involved new solar energy systems for school districts and colleges. (Each dollar spent by the state is supposed to be matched by nearly $4 in private capital.)
But a $255,442 grant awarded to Temple University will be used to develop an electric hybrid/fuel cell vehicle that has an extended range and load. We can only hope if Temple researchers are successful, they'll one day be able to license their innovations to the private-sector. The world gets a new vehicle, Temple gets some licensing income and Pennsylvania officials get bragging rights.
Mike Armstrong blogs about Philadelphia corporations and business-related topics. Contact him at 215-854-2980.
Reach Mike at marmstrong@phillynews.com.
