Rice WaTER Institute Industrial Affiliates Program

The RWI Industrial Affiliates Program provides a mechanism to connect Rice water researchers with companies at all levels of the water value chain in a pre-competitive environment. Industrial members benefit by gaining exposure to cutting-edge insights with relevance to their R&D priorities. Faculty and students benefit by learning industrial needs that can shape their research agenda. One intent of the Program is to connect multiple companies with shared research needs to form consortia with faculty research groups. Another intent is to encourage sponsored research agreements between individual companies and faculty who have expertise in the Affiliate’s priority areas. Membership benefits do not include a statement of work, deliverables, or rights to intellectual property which are negotiated individually with each project. More details about the Rice Water Institute can be found at https://water.rice.edu/about-institute.

Membership Benefits

• Participation in the Annual Meeting and quarterly Distinguished Lecture Series to engage with faculty, students and other companies
• Access to the NEWT Alliance which includes researchers and facilities at Yale, Arizona State and the University of Texas – El Paso (NEWT Alliance is the continuation of the influential NSF funded NEWT Engineering Research Center)
• Invitations to Workshops and Symposia
• Sponsored research projects under a separate agreement that may include preferred cost sharing
• Opportunity to form pre-competitive research consortia with other industry members and research institutes.
• Access to test beds utilized for sponsored research
• Opportunities to recruit students
• On‐location short courses or seminars tailored to the industrial affiliate’s needs

Expectations for Industrial Affiliates

• Each company is expected to name a representative to participate on the Rice WaTER Institute’s Advisory Board for periodic consultation on Institute policy and strategy. We also encourage active participation in Institute events.

• There is no annual fee, however, we do require the one-time signing of a membership agreement that identifies expected roles and responsibilities and basic confidentiality terms.

If you are interested in partnering with the Rice WaTER Institute, please contact Executive Director, Eric.Willman@rice.edu.