For the 1998 Forum, Civil Engineering Research Foundation (CERF) proposes a two-phase strategy to ensure greater likelihood of future collaborations. It is not enough to have a generic indication of interest from industry. Rather, for collaborations and consortia to be formed, it is critical to match the specific research projects of university researchers with the commercialization needs and expectations of industry. CERF will identify those projects whose potential commercial applications offer significant enough interest to industry to encourage their collaboration with academia. By matching the current and planned efforts taking place under NSF auspices with the strategic needs of industry, CERF will identify research `clusters` of significant interest to industry and academia. CERF will recommend holding the Collaborations Forum only if a sufficient number of industry representatives express specific interest and make explicit pledges indicating a desire to work in developing a collaboration with academic researchers.
