How Colorado State University’s Engines and Energy Conversion Lab transformed itself from a resource of academic research to a full-service R&D partner.

There’s always been a certain rhythm to the partnership between industry and university labs. Industry typically comes knocking at the door of academia when they need access to a highly-specialized resource—a virtual reality CAVE environment, for example, or a complex engine or supercomputing cluster. Other times industry reaches out when they come across a faculty member that has prized expertise and some research funding in a relevant area.

It’s the rare occasion, however, when industry seeks out a university lab to become a full-service development partner. At the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory (EECL) at Colorado State University, we decided it was high time to shake up the pattern that had governed our industry/lab relations since the lab’s founding in 1992. The EECL, which was initially focused exclusively on pipeline engine work for the natural gas sector, embarked on this journey when we found ourselves in need of a diversification strategy in the late 1990s as research funding in our specialty area dried up. Instead of waiting for another industry suitor to court our research work, the lab opted to take a more market-driven approach.  And, so while we continue to be leaders in the field of large bore natural gas engines, we made a conscious decision to revise the mission of the laboratory to include a wider range of R&D activities across multiple business sectors. Our mission became one to create innovative energy solutions and entrepreneurial models which benefit the human condition and achieve global impact.

The metamorphosis required some fairly significant changes. Over a period of years, we had to revamp everything from our methods for recruiting faculty talent and managing and training students to how we engaged with industry partners to solicit projects and facilitate on-going collaboration. As a result of the shift, the EECL saw opportunity for both the lab and for business. Over time, the lab would establish itself as a full-service development partner, generating a steady stream of revenue that would cover our operating costs. Although a non-profit entity, the lab doesn’t have guaranteed support from Colorado State University, thus developing a source of self-funding was critical to our success going forward. Moreover, the lab envisioned its new role as an asset to attracting the best and brightest students and to serve as a stepping stone for launching students into the workforce. For business, the lab would not only continue its service as a vast resource of intellectual capital and highly-specialized assets, but it would also become a responsive development partner, not to mention, provide a continuing source of ready-made employees.

Transforming the Culture

The first step in the transition was to figure out exactly where to diversify. The markets we chose to avoid were just as important as the areas that we targeted for expansion. While it would have been a natural progression to redirect engine development efforts to the automotive industry or to focus on fuel cells, we took our cue from industry, which was not making major investments in these areas at the time. With this new market-driven focus, we instead chose to expand our scope from our core engine competencies both upstream around fuel technologies and downstream around power grids. As a result, in addition to creating products which improve engine emissions and efficiencies, our lab currently has development projects underway with industry in the areas of biofuels, renewable and distributed power systems and low-cost, high-performance cook stoves for developing nations. The projects are 95% funded by outside corporations, not the government, and the 40 to 60 undergraduate students employed here have participated in contract work for such big-name companies as Caterpillar, Woodward, Cummins and John Deere.

To reel in these well-known industry players, we invested in some unique technologies like a smart grid laboratory that would attract industry. We also made a concerted effort to court faculty members with industry expertise and on-going research in the targeted areas as opposed to following the typical pattern of a university lab, where faculty works on whatever is of interest to them. Recruiting the right faculty members was a crucial element to our new entrepreneurial strategy.  The Principal Investigators we pursue have excellent teaching and research credentials, and have well-established skills in the area of creative problem solving, budgeting, and client and project management. PIs also have to demonstrate a proclivity for recognizing projects that have revenue potential with industry. While we don’t have a formal process for soliciting project ideas, we actively promote the entrepreneurial culture with a mandate to “work on things that are important, not just interesting.”

The EECL also veers from a traditional university culture with its requirements for both PIs and its students. PIs must keep regular office hours at the lab, including during the summer off season. Just like many corporations do, the EECL hosts regular retreats for staffers to talk about their projects and it encourages the team to dissect and discuss failures—another departure from the typical university lab setting. The recruitment and management of students is another key differentiator, albeit, one we’ve struggled to refine. While we initially recruited students primarily through open houses and networking events, we quickly found that approach wasn’t effective in unearthing the right kind of candidates, who were smart, dedicated and enterprising. We recently switched gears to an internal referral process, which has been much more successful. Today, we have a healthy stream of student candidates. We evaluate them by giving each a task to complete, which often requires burning the midnight oil to gauge their commitment. We also look at more than their GPA, but additionally, summer job experience, initiative and any other entrepreneurial traits they can demonstrate.

We are consciously working on our evolving culture to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our industry and university partners along with the educational demands of our student research assistants.  Finding the right balance for the students has been a challenge, but we pay them a decent wage so they are fully invested and we maintain an open book policy around revenue goals and project status.  We treat our students as junior professionals, which means we expect a lot from them.  In return, we look to support their research, help them in their educational pursuits and generally work to make them part of the larger team.  Treating the student pool exactly as a corporation would treat high-performing employees is the goal and yet another way the EECL distinguishes itself from other university labs.

Yet another key area of differentiation is how we engage with corporate partners. Instead of meeting annually and delivering a report when research work is complete, the lab operates like a traditional R&D partner. We host weekly status meetings, invite sponsors into the lab for regular visits and issue regular reports on project milestones.  We are now partnering closely with the CSU Office of Sponsored Programs to refine our processes for contracts and billing so that we can better align with the demands of our corporate and industry partners.

Nevertheless, the EECL’s transformation has produced benefits from both a financial and cultural standpoint. The lab is meeting its revenue goals and has actually been an incubator for a handful of new startup companies that are staffed in part by former EECL faculty and students, including Solix Biofuels which is making fuel from algae, and Envirofit, which is making clean burning biomass cookstoves and selling them in the developing world.  Perhaps the biggest impact is that the lab and its team are channeling their R&D energies into areas that are important to industry—and have a social and economic impact on the world at large. We think that’s an R&D lesson that’s hard to beat.