Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Industrial Liaison Program records of member companies

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) was created in 1948 to inform companies about research developments in a range of fields and to support the Institute's educational activities. Participating companies provide MIT major financial support through membership fees. The program, which has become international in scope, assigns an industrial liaison officer to each company and arranges faculty visits, research briefings, and seminars and symposia at the Institute.

ILP was first established on an experimental basis. The Institute approached several industrial organizations for financial support to establish research and advanced education programs in areas of mutual interest. ILP officers selected a group of companies as test cases and worked cooperatively with these companies to develop a program which would be consistent with MIT's educational objectives and with the long-term interests of the stockholders of the companies. The director of ILP reported to the president.

The most favorable initial responses were from oil companies and, as a result of the particular interests of these companies in sponsoring research in the fields of nuclear science, physics, chemistry, and chemical engineering, the fledgling program tended to be engineering-oriented. The program grew and became more interdisciplinary. Member organizations had formal access to the work of faculty and staff in all of MIT's schools, interdisciplinary centers, and laboratories. These companies benefitted through convenience of access to activities at MIT, informal conferences to discuss research progress, consideration of unusual company problems where MIT's knowledge of resources might be helpful, contact with faculty from visits by company representatives to the MIT campus, and distribution of the lab reports and other publications.

From the outset of the program all research was available to corporate participants. ILP was staffed by a number of officers who acted as liaisons to corporate representatives chosen by each member company. Almost all departments at the Institute participated. A faculty committee directed by Professor Albert G. Hill was given the responsibility of advising the administration regarding the program and of ensuring that faculty spent a limited amount of time on ILP activities.

In 1950 the ILP began publishing the Monthly List of Publications, which provided a compilation of MIT working papers, reprints, and theses available for purchase by member companies. The same year the program first published the Directory of Current Research, a directory of the titles, abstracts, and principal investigators of current research projects conducted within the various centers, departments, and laboratories of MIT. The directory was published sporadically.

In 1953 ILP began reporting to the secretary of the Institute. From 1957 to 1964 it reported to the vice president. It again reported to the secretary of the Institute from 1964 until 1972, when it came under the direction of the vice president of resource development.

By 1973 the ILP had opened offices in Tokyo and sponsored seminars in Europe. New services were added to the program in 1978 including return visits of MIT personnel to industry; temporary visiting status at the Institute for some individuals from cooperating companies, and the opportunity to work cooperatively on research at MIT financed by individual companies.

In November 1981 the Monthly List was superseded by the MIT Report, which retained the list of available publications, theses, and working papers, and added articles about current research as well as reviews of publications. In 1986 ILP reported to the Office of the Vice President and Treasurer. In 1989 ILP was placed within the Office of Corporate Relations, which currently reports to the vice president of resource development (as of 1995). In 1994 the office published MIT Expertise, which contains the same information as the Directory of Current Research in a new format.

Under the aegis of Corporate Relations, the program opened an office in Palo Alto, California, in 1993 to expand relations with companies on the west coast. At present there are twenty-one officers and just under 200 member companies (as of 1995).

The Industrial Liaison Program has been directed by the following: Robert V. Bartz, 1948-1953; William R. Weems, 1953-1956, 1957-1958; Philip A. Stoddard, 1956-1957; Vincent A. Fulmer, 1958-1959; Winston R. Hindle, 1959-1960; James McClymont, 1962-1963; Richard B. Finn, 1963-1966; Frank T. Bauchspies, 1966-1968; Jack W. Christensen, 1968-1972; Charles J. Sheehan, 1972-1975; Samuel A. Goldblith, 1975-1979; James D. Bruce, 1979-1983; James M. Utterback, 1983-1989; and Thomas Moebus, 1989-present (as of 1995).

December 1995