International Conference on Partnerships Between Small Manufacturers and Universities for Technological Innovation, Education, and Economic Development

这个小额赠款项目提议组织一次国际会议，介绍和讨论美国和世界各地的大学和小型制造公司之间的伙伴关系模式，这些模式已被证明是有效和有效的。虽然大公司长期以来一直参与这种伙伴关系，以研究和开发新技术，但小制造商这样做更有意义，因为它们本身往往缺乏研发能力;因为小公司作为一个整体，现在比大公司雇用更多的新毕业生;因为小公司往往更面向社区。堪萨斯州立大学先进制造研究所通过其制造学习中心以及NSF、NIST和制造工程师协会的支持，开发了一种创新模式，该模式与大量中小型制造公司合作，将教育和培训、研究和经济发展融为一体。世界其他地方也有这种伙伴关系的其他模式。这次会议将提供一个论坛，介绍和讨论堪萨斯州的活动和来自世界各地的其他成功的工作伙伴关系，从而宣传早期NSF支持的研究成果，并扩大先前的努力。

This Small Grant project proposes to organize an international conference for presentation and discussion of models of partnership between universities and small manufacturing companies in the US and around the world that have proven to be efficient and effective. While major corporations have long been involved in such partnerships for research and development of new technologies, it makes even more sense for smaller manufacturers to do so, because they often lack R&D capabilities themselves; because smaller firms as a whole now hire more new graduates than larger companies; and because smaller firms are often more community oriented. The Advanced Manufacturing Institute of Kansas State University through its Manufacturing Learning Center and support from NSF, NIST and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers has developed an innovative model that integrates education and training, research, and economic development in partnership with a large number of small-to-medium-sized manufacturing companies. Other models of such partnerships exist elsewhere around the world. This conference will provide a forum for presentation and discussion of both the Kansas State activities and other successful working partnerships from around the world, thus publicizing the results of earlier NSF-supported research and extending the prior effort.