The i3 Partner programme offers to organisations external to i3 the opportunity to join the community as a partner. They will enjoy all the privileges related to membership, in particular they will have access to all the information and services on the i3 Internet site and they will be on the distribution list of the i3 magazine. Moreover, four types of action are offered through four different forms of partnerships:
- The brokerage partnership.
- The business partnership.
- The development partnership.
- The research partnership.
The Brokerage Partnerships
The fundamental research that the i3 community performs is a complex endeavour:
- During the last three years, the researchers of i3 have published a large number of internal reports, articles, books, CD-ROM's, DVD's, videos.
- Even though fundamental research has no short-term commercial goals, several i3 projects resulted in new products.
- Members of the i3 community often participate in several projects. Individual researchers have moved between institutions.
- Some of the projects are completed whilst others are just starting. Others are still being defined.
- Some research does not attempt to satisfy existing needs but investigates if new interfaces can cater for new needs.
- Events do not take place in a neat linear fashion but in a chaotic way.
- An answer may come before the question is asked.
- The result of a given research project might completely change the starting hypotheses.
The Business Partnerships
The i3 Partners programme is an extension of the brokerage partnership. It provides
an additional in-house service for large organisations.
Besides the visits to or by the partner, presentations by i3 members are planed on the
premises of the partner so that more of its agents can become aware of the scientific
developments. These presentations will have a theme chosen among the themes that the
i3 community is addressing at that time (see page 15 for possible themes). They should
bring the participant agents from the partner to rethink their problems in the light of
the research and of the potential avenues and options that i3 can show.
The Development Partnerships
The research of the i3 community is dominated by a technology push: the researcher has
an idea within the general vision of the community, develops it and tries it on a group
of users. Whether this idea becomes part of the main stream of developed products will
only be seen at a later stage. This paradigm is what has pushed our civilisation forward.
Remember than nobody needed a plane when the Wright brothers built their first prototypes
and nobody had asked for a transistor before it was invented.
Nevertheless, the demand-pull, where the market determines the research agenda, becomes
an important factor as soon as ideas come close to realisation. Recognising that the i3
fundamental research has already resulted in significant products, i3net is setting the
development partnership up to better structure the demand-pull within the community.
The development partnership is meant for companies that have research problems in the
domain of i3 but do not have the resources to develop that research themselves. By
participating in the decision process that defines the research agendas, these companies
can get the answers to their questions without an effort they are not willing or able to
undertake.
The development partners are expected to define future probes or to actively participate
in some of them. These are small projects that try to define new avenues before launching
an extended research effort.
The development partners will also be kept abreast of the efforts within the i3 community
to launch new proposals and new projects when appropriate. They will be offered an advisory
role on these proposals. Once the proposal has been approved they may follow the projects
in a user group.
Finally, the development partners will be asked to contribute to the exchange of views
with the governmental organisations that finance research, when the opinion of i3 is asked
by these organisations.
The Research Partnership
The research partners perform the research in a multidisciplinary project consortium where
they have clearly defined financial and technical responsibilities. In some cases they are
responsible for bringing the results of the research to industrial and commercial exploitation.
The research partnerships are extensions of the co-operation that exists already within
i3net on quite a large scale. 30 Industrial companies participate today in one or several
projects of the i3 community.
Industrial Property
Some results of the research are protected information belonging to some of the i3
members. Depending on the competitive nature of the situation a partner might become
privy to this information subject to a non-disclosure agreement. In many cases, the
partners will be the first to be offered the rights and patents developed within the
projects.
The i3 Partner programme will help the Partners and the i3 research members resolve
the problems related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and patents.
Advantages of the Partnerships for the partners
In summary, the advantages for the partners are:
- A partner will be less surprised by the future.
- Through the personal contacts with the researchers and their experiences, the partners will get ideas for short-term features and actions. They will also be able to translate the visions and results of the research into long term strategic policies. These contacts can also generate an impression of these aspects of the research that failed.
- A partner will be aware of new developments 6 months before his competitors.
- The partners will also regularly be offered sponsorships and publicity opportunities.
Yearly subscription for the Partnerships
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