Intel Science and Technology Centers (ISTCs) are Intel-funded, jointly-led research collaborations between Intel and the U.S. academic community.  Each ISTC will be centered at a leading U.S. university and will focus on a specific technology area or discipline, bringing together a community of top researchers from across academia. Each ISTC will be funded by Intel for five years (three years with an Intel option to renew for up to two additional years.) With the full investment going directly to the participating universities, each ISTC’s academic participants will play a leading role in setting and driving center research agendas. Also, Intel will expect and encourage the participating schools to seek and secure matching grants from federal and/or state government agencies, such as the NSF or DARPA, to fund additional research within an ISTC focus area.

To ensure the broadest possible engagement of academic thought leaders within a center’s focus area, the ISTC research team should include the best and brightest from leading U.S. universities.  ISTCs will be built loosely on a “hub and spoke” model with the “lead” university at the hub and “partner” institutions as the spokes.  The specific ways in which participating universities engage and are funded will likely vary between ISTCs and will depend largely on the preferences of the universities and the leadership teams involved.

Each ISTC will engage researchers at several universities, forming vibrant research communities that deeply engage with Intel researchers in areas of critical importance to Intel. The 3+2 year, time-bounded ISTC model of investment will enable Intel to refocus its investment engagements over time in alignment with the emergence of talented new researchers, new research advances, shifts in competitive market trends and the reprioritization of Intel business needs.

Maximizing the capture of new ideas requires that Intel researchers spend significant time at ISTC universities and, in turn, that academic researchers, including post-docs and interns, spend significant time at Intel Labs. To ensure direct communication and intellectual engagement, each ISTC will report into the Intel Labs research division that is best aligned with the research objectives of the center. Each sponsoring research division will also host the post-docs, interns, and visiting faculty members during their engagements at Intel.

Intel’s goals for Intel Science and Technology Centers are to: (1) broaden and deepen academic research in areas that are important to Intel’s long term future, and (2) capture new ideas and fresh perspectives from the academic community.  Centers will be organized and governed under a general framework to ensure a consistent operational philosophy and practice among the centers. Individual center organization and governance will be customizable to allow local university requirements and individual circumstances to be accommodated.

From time to time, Intel will invite ISTC proposals to be submitted by potential lead universities that includes participants from other partner universities. It is expected that ISTCs will tap into the broadest possible cross-section of academic thought leaders and establish a research community in the targeted research focus area. The fixed duration of ISTCs will, (1) preserve Intel’s ability to move investments in and out of research areas as technological priorities evolve and shift, and (2) specifically define the funding scope and duration for participating schools. All of the direct ISTC funding will go to the participating universities to fund research, including key faculty members, post-doctoral researchers and students working in the focus area of the center.

The particular organizational structure of each ISTC is flexible to reflect and leverage its research focus area, the strengths of its individual leaders, its research staff and the host university’s particular operational requirements. Each ISTC will be led by two highly accomplished Principal Investigators (co-PIs), one from Intel and one from the lead university, who in turn will identify, select, and recruit the research staff.  ISTCs will operate under the guidance of a Board of Advisors that will provide high level strategic guidance and decision making.  A program manager will work alongside the co-PIs, assisting them with center operations. Typically, the program manager will be an Intel employee who is familiar with Intel’s operational and management practices.

The research staff will be comprised primarily of university faculty, post-doctoral researchers, graduate student interns, and undergraduate researchers. In addition, Intel will fund and support, in each ISTC, up to four Intel researchers who will either be located at the participating university campuses or will operate from an Intel site and commute to their ISTC. The Intel researchers will report either to the Intel co-PI or the program manager while post-doctoral researchers and graduate student interns will typically work under the direction of the academic co-PI and other participating faculty. The co-PIs together select, recruit, and determine the reporting relationships of the research staff.

The IP policies and practices within the ISTCs will typically be designed to level the playing field for all of the participants, thereby enhancing cooperation and open collaboration.  The preferred IP policy is to conduct open research wherein ISTC researchers, whether from academia or Intel, agree to not file patents and to publish all patentable inventions. All significant software developed in the course of conducting research will be released under an open source license. Any background IP introduced into a center project will have to be licensed by the other parties involved before it can be used within the project.  Of course, specific legal agreements will be negotiated between Intel and each participating university.