Industry Partners

Since its inception, CEBC has been driven by the needs of industry. Even the most elegant discoveries in the laboratory will not benefit society if they cannot be practiced commercially.  CEBC researchers collaborate with industry scientists and engineers to understand the technical and business challenges to implementing new catalytic processes.  CEBC also uses economic and environmental assessment tools at early stages of research projects to help companies understand the potential of new technologies along with hurdles that need to be overcome.  Collectively this partnership helps ensure CEBC researchers are working on the right problems. 

Current Members can access the Membership Portal on Sharepoint.

CEBC Membership Program

The first step for a company to work with CEBC is to become a member of CEBC's consortium. CEBC's Membership Agreement and Bylaws were crafted in collaboration with its six charter members in 2004, and outline the benefits to company members. 

• Participation on CEBC's Industrial Advisory Board (IAB), which helps to guide the center's strategic priorities and identify the grand challenges facing industry. The IAB meets twice per year as part of a day-and-a-half symposium; 
• Leverage your membership with privileged access to CEBC's core research and intellectual property portfolio. This includes a first-look at unpublished results and inventions, and priority access to license IP;
• Connect and mentor students and postdocs. Companies find that CEBC's trainees are well prepared for industry careers due to is training programs and industry interaction.  
• Sponsor proprietary research (see below) that leverages the center's unique infrastructure and capabilities;
• Learn about latest techniques and trends in catalysis research, and collaborate with leading faculty experts.

Sponsoring Research

Member companies can also sponsor research projects using CEBC expertise and resources. These proprietary projects are "firewalled" from all other projects, and are governed by separate agreements that specify confidentiality and intellectual property terms exclusively for that project.  Company researchers may choose their level of involvement in sponsored projects--ranging from near-daily involvement in experimental design to a more faculty-led hands-off approach.

The KU Office of Research offers flexibility in reaching mutually agreeable IP terms, and these can be determined on a per-project basis.

More than a dozen companies have sponsored research through CEBC, and most have either expanded or sponsored additional projects, and several have even ended up hiring the postdoc/student working with them on their project.