The Open Collaborative Research (OCR) model enables Intel Research Seattle and the three other labs in the network to work closely on joint projects with university researchers. The OCR model is designed to avoid the conflicts over intellectual property (IP) rights that delay or constrain many traditional university-industry collaborations. It emphasizes close collaboration with the university and non-exclusive rights to IP. The labs are owned and funded by Intel, but much of their research is published and widely shared. The model allows for patents, but these are expected to be uncommon.

“The open collaborative research model allows us work on projects that we think are going to make an impact on the world, without having to focus on protecting IP,” says Landay. “That enables us to collaborate with the best people to tackle our research problems, and this gives us a big advantage.”

Intel’s open approach is designed to make it easy to initiate joint research projects with university collaborators. “The lab allows faculty to launch collaborative projects quickly, without going through the usual grant writing process, which typically takes six months or more,” says Henry Kautz, a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and a close collaborator with the Seattle lab.

"One of the roles of the labs in the Research Network is to act as eyes and ears for Intel. We watch for the next big thing and make sure the company knows about it, in addition to trying to invent it ourselves." Anthony LaMarca Staff Researcher Intel Research Seattle

Intel’s model also enables researchers to solicit early input from a variety of experts, and this enriches the research, according to Anthony LaMarca. “At a traditional industrial research lab, you have to guard your research ideas closely until you file for a patent or publish a paper,” he says. “That may protect your ideas, but it also cuts you off from the early input of other researchers, which can help ideas to evolve. Because of the OCR agreement, we have been able to engage a variety of other researchers at the very early stages of idea formation, which generates richer ideas and, I believe, better outcomes.”

"I joined Intel Research Seattle in August 2004. The Intel lab and model are fairly new and thus somewhat risky, but they also provide tremendous freedom and the opportunity for significant internal and external collaboration. Ultimately, I believe Intel's research model is a rising star, and I want to hitch my wagon to it." Jeffrey Hightower Staff Researcher Intel Research Seattle

The presence of the Intel lab near the University of Washington campus has expanded the university’s research community and strengthened its capabilities. “Having the Intel lab close by gives the university much more depth, in the form of Ph.D. level computer science researchers to collaborate with in areas of mutual interest,” says Landay. “For example, at any given time there might be two or three people at the university who are working on human-computer interaction, and the Intel lab might have another five or six, and the same holds true for other research areas. So the amount of local expertise in a particular area might be doubled because of the presence of our lab.”

Henry Kautz serves a good example of the benefits of collaboration with the lab. “Intel Research Seattle provided me with both financial and technical resources,” says Kautz. “This support helped me move into a new research area—using sensors and AI (artificial intelligence) algorithms in caring for individuals with cognitive disabilities. Because I had no track record or grants in this area, this was a great help in getting started. As a result, I’ve now received major funding from NIDRR (National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research) for the Assisted Cognition project that I’m leading at the University of Washington.”

Of course, the benefits of collaboration are mutual. By locating a lab near the UW campus, Intel gains access to a group of high-quality faculty and students who can help to amplify the work being carried out at the lab. “Our university labs are fairly small, with staff capped at about 20 people, whereas some large industrial research organizations have thousands of researchers,” says Landay. “Being able to collaborate openly and closely with top student and faculty researchers right next door allows us to expand the impact of our research.”

"Intel benefits from the ability to collaborate with a smart group of people whom they don’t have to bring into the corporation and who might not, by their nature, want to be in a corporation. Students who work in the lab will be visible to Intel and Intel will be visible to them. Students will graduate understanding more about the broader Intel corporation and how they might fit within it. Ultimately, I think the lab will help Intel to recruit more and more high quality people" David Notkin Chair Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington

Bridging Industry and Academia	back to top

The Intel lab enables university researchers to maintain their ties to academia while collaborating with an industrial lab. It’s a combination that many faculty members find attractive. Similarly, the lab gives students a taste of the corporate research world to complement their university experience. Gaetano Borriello, Professor in the CSE department of UW and Founding Director of Intel Research Seattle, provides an example. “One of my students did a long-term internship at the lab, working on some of the core algorithms in location-based systems,” says Borriello. “He had the opportunity not only to see his code put to work by other researchers but actually transferred into some product groups within Intel. So he was able to experience the benefits of working with people who are focused on how research can be implemented in the real world. That has greatly benefited his work.” As part of its collaborative approach, Intel often provides students with technology under development, giving them an edge in their research. “Intel as a company has unique hardware and devices—not just the latest Pentium® processor, but more unique devices that our research competitors don’t have easy access to.” says Landay. “We allow students to use this advanced technology, which they would not have access to at another university for several years, until the technology was commercialized.”   "It's very useful to us when we can turn loose graduate students or even undergraduates on some of Intel's new technology. Many of them come up with application ideas that more experienced researchers might not have thought of. They push the technology in new ways because they don't have as many preconceived notions of what the technology can or cannot do, which is great." James Landay Director, Intel Research Seattle

In exchange, students provide Intel with valuable insights into how the technology might be improved. For example, students in one graduate level course at the university were given the Place Lab toolkit. “We received a lot of useful feedback on the toolkit from these really early beta users who were close by and who we trusted,” says Landay. “Some of the students also came up with interesting application ideas that helped us to understand what might motivate someone to want to use the technology.”