A $3 million North Dakota Economic Development Centers of Excellence (COE-ED) grant has added a new dimension to how business is done in the NDSU Research and Technology Park. Awarded in December, the grant gives NDSU the resources it needs to conduct market-driven research with the private sector through its new Center for Advanced Electronics Design and Manufacturing.

The NDSU grant is part of a $20 million initiative, passed by the North Dakota Legislature, to create centers of excellence at the state's colleges and universities. The centers must use the grants for research that promotes the creation of private-sector job growth.

The grant requires a two-to-one match for every COE-ED dollar spent. Phil Boudjouk, NDSU's vice president for research, creative activities and technology transfer, said that match will come from NDSU's federal grants that are building new capabilities in advanced electronics. In addition, two of NDSU's established private-sector partners, Alien Technology, Fargo and Morgan Hill, Calif., and Crane Wireless Monitoring Solutions, Plano, Texas, are providing in-kind match as well.

NDSU will be working with Alien on advanced Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and with Crane on advanced sensors utilizing a new global wireless standard. Both companies first became involved with NDSU and the Research and Technology Park primarily due to Department of Defense contracts.

"Our faculty, staff and students have already worked on critical Department of Defense projects in the Research and Technology Park with these and other companies," Boudjouk, said. "This new funding allows NDSU researchers to acquire what I call market savvy. This is something that most universities don't have as universities are usually not in the business of bringing products to market. This partnering mechanism opens up a whole new arena."

A new research partner anxious to begin work with NDSU is Clinical Supplies Management, Fargo. "North Dakota companies want to partner with NDSU because the University has -- and they do not have -- what the companies need for advanced electronics design and development," Boudjouk said. With the aim of initiating more market-driven research projects, the center will help companies define products, investigate market potential and, if indicators are positive, develop the product. NDSU and its Center also will handle confidentiality and intellectual property agreements.

The economic impact of the COE-ED grant stretches across the state. Alien and Crane propose to utilize high-capability, electronics manufacturing at one or more sites across the state.

The COE-ED grant also will allow center staff to identify private sector partners for NDSU's agricultural research. "Tessera Technologies, Inc., one of NDSU's Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering DoD research partners, has shown interest in collaborating with CNSE and NDSU faculty in animal and range and veterinary science on implantable sensors for livestock," Boudjouk said. Other applications for new agricultural research include food security and soil and crop monitoring.

If the COE-ED grant does what is anticipated, the combination of the Center for Advanced Electronics Design and Manufacturing services and NDSU's research power will make North Dakota an irresistible place for the private-sector to research, develop and produce products for the future.