Purpose

This project will measure the extent to which research funded by the Illinois Missouri Biotechnology Alliance led to and is leading to new and improved technology employed in the industries involved in producing, processing, distributing, marketing, and utilizing corn and soybeans.

This research team will study the proposals and reports submitted to IMBA and interview investigators to find out if the funded research efforts carried out by institutions receiving grants were linked to other activities. Included, will be private sector research and development, required to accomplish the practical objectives listed as the focus of IMBA research.

The investigators will learn if, how and when linkages were established in each project and if they were effective in moving the research results along a predetermined or opportunistic development path toward practical use. In situations in which such linkages were not established, attempts will be made to find out why and determine whether advantage was lost by failure to establish the linkages.

Objectives

1. To identify useful and/or practical achievements of IMBA biotechnology research projects.
2. To identify relationships and linkages that helped transform IMBA biotechnology research results into useful practical achievements.
3. To identify barriers to effective and/or efficient transformation of IMBA biotechnology research results into practical outcomes.
4. To compare IMBA biotechnology research projects with other, similar research projects in terms of tangible and intangible contributions to desired practical outcomes.
5. To develop and disseminate guidelines for establishing and expediting relationships and linkages that foster rapid, efficient technological development.

Impact

This project should yield useful guidelines for managing practical-goal-oriented research. If these guidelines are implemented by research decision makers, several benefits will accrue:

1. Return on both public and private investment in improved research enterprises should increase.
2. The contribution of public sector researchers should be more evident to beneficiaries/stakeholders/ decision makers in agricultural enterprises.
3. Improved public awareness of such contributions should encourage higher levels of public interest, involvement, and investment in public research institutions and programs.
4. Formation of research teams and cooperative relationships that, having accomplished much in IMBA research, are empowered and encouraged to pursue other practical food and agriculture goals in the future.