At the Grainger Institute for Engineering, we recognize the need to reshape collaboration models to better serve our stakeholders: industry, academia and society. In order to match academic interest with real need in a way that develops students for tomorrow’s workforce, produces innovation, and fortifies companies, we are looking beyond traditional sponsorship opportunities and approaching public-private partnerships in bold new ways.
TAPPING INTO EACH OTHER’S STRENGTHS
We are interested in matching our resources with industry’s to address business needs and growth. We invite the private sector to think critically about how we can make collaborative research efforts more achievable, desirable and effective.
CONNECTING ACROSS CAMPUS
To start tackling technical challenges together, engineering researchers and industry can leverage resources across the College of Engineering and UW-Madison’s campus. Get in touch with us to explore bold new partnership models, accelerated contracting, and no-sweat research relationships, and to connect with engineering faculty, staff and students on technical topics that matter to you.
GREAT THINGS HAPPEN WHEN WE MATCH OUR RESOURCES

WE WORK TOGETHER TO GENERATE NEW KNOWLEDGE
The public-private partnership between the Grainger Institute for Engineering and the Mid-West Energy Research Consortium (M-WERC) is the result of the College of Engineering and an industry cluster coming together to accelerate research and discovery in advanced manufacturing and materials, extreme power conversion and systems intelligence. A byproduct of the collaboration is the Industrial Connected Enterprise Lab, created with the support of M-WERC and sponsored by Rockwell Automation. The lab promotes studies that explore the convergence of mission critical control and data analytics for manufacturing systems.

WE JOIN FORCES TO PREPARE TOMORROW'S WORKFORCE
The Industrial Connected Enterprise Lab, created with the support of M-WERC and sponsored by Rockwell Automation, promotes studies that explore the convergence of mission critical control and data analytics for manufacturing systems. Erick Oberstar, mechanical engineering associate faculty associate, says, “this interconnected lab simulates a modern manufacturing facility and gives students the opportunity to be trained on state-of-the-art equipment while introducing them to concepts of automation, programmable logic controls, and ladder logic.”

WE CONVERGE TO OVERCOME OBSTACLES
The biomanufacturing industry—in which therapeutic medical devices, cells, tissues and pharmaceuticals are manufactured—faces unique obstacles when it comes to the maturation of technologies. The pre-competitive bottlenecks unique to the industry call for even stronger relationships between scientific researchers and entrepreneurs, investors, established companies and technology development experts. The Forward BIO Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is establishing essential public-private partnerships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and together they’re working to solve critical global challenges in biohealth and biomanufacturing.