Industry Engagement
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Member Engagement Options
- The Bits & Watts Affiliate Program allows a broad engagement with the initiative as a whole via an industry consortium model, in which companies gain facilitated access to Stanford faculty and students and connect with other interested companies in shared research-related programming such as annual symposia and focused workshops. Companies join by paying an annual affiliate membership fee. Affiliate-funded research is open to all members of the program and does not include IP terms.
- Sponsored Research Collaboration: A focused collaborative research project working with one or more faculty investigators. Companies might choose this path if they have very focused goals (e.g., a technical challenge specific to their company) and/or particular concerns about confidentiality, IP or proprietary data. Each sponsored research project has its own budget (including full indirect costs) and terms and conditions. Cash payments are made in accordance with the project timeline and budget.
- Gifts: A company interested in broader support for the initiative, a particular lab, or research project might choose to support that engagement via gift funding. Gift support for graduate or postgraduate fellowships is an ideal way for companies to connect with students. Gifts to support programs or research must be “no strings attached.” Gifts are subject to a modest infrastructure charge. Cash gifts are typically made on an annual basis to allow for timely academic planning for the use of those gifts.
- In-Kind Gifts: Companies may have unique equipment or data relevant to the Initiative’s research and could participate in the Initiative by contributing these as in-kind gifts. Given their unique nature, in-kind gifts are typically handled in an ad hoc manner with agreements tailored to each contribution. Acceptance and valuation of in-kind gifts is at the discretion of our faculty.
- Affiliate Program members may provide additional funding. All research results arising from the use of the additional funding will be shared with all program members and the general public. Affiliate Program members may request the additional funding be used to support a particular area of program research identified on the program’s website, or the program research of a named faculty member, as long as the faculty is identified on the program website as participating in the Affiliate Program. In either instance, the director of the Affiliate Program will determine how the additional funding will be used in the program’s research.
The Bits & Watts Affiliate Program offers companies and institutions the following benefits, which vary depending upon membership level:
| Opportunity | Elite member | Member |
| Recognition on the Precourt Institute for Energy and Bits & Watts Initiative websites | X | X |
| Invitations to Bits & Watts Initiative events (for up to 5 invitees) | X | X |
| Facilitated access to Bits & Watts Initiative research results | X | X |
| Invitations to Precourt Institute for Energy events (for up to 5 invitees) | X | X |
| Facilitated access to Stanford faculty and students | X | X |
| Hosting one industry Visiting Scholar at Stanford: Term residencies at Stanford for industrial researchers that promote in-depth interaction between academic researchers and professionals in the field (in accordance with Stanford’s Visiting Scholar policies) | X |
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| Initiating Membership Collaboration Project | X |
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Industry Contact: Dr. Liang Min, Bits & Watts Managing Director: liangmin@stanford.edu, (650) 498-4837