University of Michigan. College of Engineering. Industrial Development Division

Division of the Institute of Science and Technology primarily established to provide a link between higher technology research at the University of Michigan and private industries in the State of Michigan. Transferred into the School of Business Administration and the College of Engineering's Office of Technology Transfer in the late 1980s.

Division of the Institute of Science and Technology primarily established to provide a link between higher technology research at the University of Michigan and private industries in the State of Michigan. Transferred into the School of Business Administration and the College of Engineering's Office of Technology Transfer in 1990.

The Industrial Development Division (IDD) was established in 1960 within the Institute of Science and Technology (IST), which had been created the previous year with the broad goal of providing state support for the private industries of Michigan. IDD was charged with two basic initiatives: to determine how science and technology could be utilized more effectively to aid state industry and to assist industry by organizing and implementing programs analogous to those existing state programs which aided agriculture. In fulfilling these missions, IDD played two roles. First, it served as a locus where state industrial, educational, governmental, professional, and civic groups could collaborate in research and organizational activities to better exploit their individual capabilities. Second, it supported and conducted studies to determine the needs of Michigan industries and to develop solutions to these needs through the utilization of new technology.

The products of the work of IDD were several conferences and research publications. As noted in "Fifteen Years, 1960-1974," a short history of IDD (Box 1, Historical Files), the unit engaged in "industry research," different than purely scientific or technological research in that it considers the "interrelations of the business, economic, marketing, financing, employment, legal, and social factors" with the technological solutions it develops. Extensive and widely varied topics of research and conferences included electronics, machine tools, computers, solar energy, manufacturing, the automotive industry, manufacturing, pollution, housing, and management techniques. IDD also performed a consulting function, serving as a liaison between industrial, governmental and academic spheres, which provided information on where answers to technological and economic questions could be found. Finally, through its work, IDD also provided educational and occupational opportunities for graduate students in business administration, law, and engineering, many of whom went on to teach in other institutions, increasing the expansive network of IDD.

In the late 1980s, the programs of IDD were separated and housed within the School of Engineering's Office of Technology Transfer and the School of Business Administration. The Office of Technology Transfer has since been disbanded, and the functions of IDD that were housed there have been incorporated into other parts of the school. As of this writing (January 1997), the Business/Industry Economic Division of IDD still exists within the School of Business Administration.