Industry Affiliate Program

The primary purpose of the MICS Industry Affiliate Program (IAP) is to establish close cooperation as well as technology transfer between MICS and its Industry Affiliate partners that are interested in supporting research and education activities of MICS. Becoming a member of the MICS IAP is an excellent way to get broad access to MICS’s research and intellectual property (IP); receive support in recruiting efforts; and setting the foundation for research collaboration opportunities.

Currently, the IAP offers two types of membership levels: Associate Member and Principal Member. Associate Members receive a non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-transferable license to non-commercially use the MICS project IP generated during their membership period, and have an option to negotiate a commercial license to IP rights, provided no Principal Member has exercised its six month option rights to such MICS IP.

Principal Members receive all of the benefits of Associate Members plus a few additional benefits, including the opportunity to support a graduate student fellowship. The student awarded with the fellowship will explore a research area that is of interest to the sponsoring Principal Member, consistent with MICS’s strategic plans. In addition, Principal Members have the option to negotiate an exclusive royalty bearing license. The Associate Member level entails an annual fee of $10,000 and the Principal Member level entails an annual fee of $40,000.

More details on the MICS IAP members’ benefits are prescribed in the MICS IAP agreement. For more information on the MICS IAP, please contact Dr. Cindy Yang Yi (cindy_yangyi@vt.edu), the MICS IAP liaison.