For the past five years,
Michigan State University (MSU) has been working with a German non-profit,
Fraunhofer, to create technologies and innovations that help Fraunhofer generate $1.7 billion in research and development services each year.
Fraunhofer has five US-based centers. Each center focuses on research and development for a certain sector of the economy. The Fraunhofer Center for Coatings and Laser Applications (CCL) at MSU works with companies and the government to supplement products that need carbon-based technologies.
The center’s been extremely successful at developing technologies that use diamond and diamond-like materials, including lab-grown diamond using an MSU-patented process; super-hard diamond-like coatings used to improve performance of advanced engine components; and even biocompatible thin films developed to extend the life of orthopedic implants in the human body.
Program Director Jes Asmussen says that for some companies, research and development is too expensive. However, these companies can get their research and development needs met by using the program and MSU students to develop the technology they need.
This allows companies to develop products and get them into the market that they might not otherwise have been able to afford.
Source: Jes Asmussen, Fraunhofer Center for Coatings and Laser Applications (CCL)
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
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