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23 | DOING BUSINESS IN CONNECTICUT | 2018 2018 | DOING BUSINESS IN CONNECTICUT | 23 Sharing Insights Collaboration between colleges, universities and businesses leads to real-world innovation By Cara Rosner On any given day, in labs across Connecticut, breakthroughs are being made. At public and private universities alike – and at the undergrad, graduate and faculty levels – innovative research is tackling and solving some of the world's most vexing problems and mysteries. The research itself is vitally important, but colleges and universities are increasingly working to connect that research with industry. Working, sharing knowledge and exchanging insights with the business community makes students more employable and gives research real-world implications. While partnerships are underway at most schools in the state, many of them are happening at state universities. "It's important," said Radenka Maric, vice president for research at the University of Connecticut and UConn Health, adding that partnerships benefit students and Connecticut companies alike. "We are the state's flagship university, and we also help the state economy." UConn and UConn Health have hundreds of corporate-sponsored research projects, which in the 2017 fiscal year totaled more than $15 million, she said. Both institutions work with companies of all sizes to explore and find innovative solutions to real-world challenges, advance industry technologies, and train a skilled future workforce. An example is the UTC Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering, which was founded in 2013 with an initial pledge from United Technologies Corp. of $10 million over five years. Focused on research in cyber-physical systems, or CPS, the partnership has led to: new certificate programs and a master's of engineering degree in systems engineering, fellowships to attract top students to research opportunities, and collaborative research projects between UTC and UConn faculty and student researchers totaling $500,000 a year, according to Maric. As its name suggests, a cyber-physical system is the blend of cyberspace (the Internet) with the physical world, and is one of the most significant advances in the development of computer science, information and communication. CPS is related to, but more sophisticated than, the so-called "Internet of Things." But similar to the way someone can ask "Alexa" to play music, read their calendar or find the nearest restaurant using only their voice and an Internet- connected Echo device, CPS in the industrial environment can blend data access, data processing and analytics with manufacturing Radenka Maric, vice president for research and Connecticut Clean Energy Fund Professor of Sustainable Energy, in the lab with graduate student Rishabn Jain. EDUCATION & RESEARCH [Photo by Sean Flynn, UCONN Photo]