Shaping what's ahead: UNC Charlotte and the Charlotte Research Institute provide intellectual capital to spur economic growth.

• Position: UNC Charlotte - University of North Carolina at Charlotte

As the Carolinas' largest city, Charlotte demands the intellectual capital to fuel--and sustain--regional economic growth. In meeting that need, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and its Charlotte Research Institute (CRI) are primed to deliver expertise that will drive the new economy. Over the last 12 years, UNC Charlotte has disclosed approximately 350 inventions. Additionally, it has filed 220 patents and spun off 24 start-up companies. The university has also transferred 60 technologies to industry.

Since its founding in 2000, CRI has accelerated UNC Charlotte's development as a doctoral research university. Through 2003, industry funding to the university has jumped 65%, and federal funding has tripled. Total external research funding has increased more than 125% to $30 million.

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Building on UNC Charlotte's core strengths, CRI provides solutions to real-world problems in three main areas: precision metrology, optoelectronics and optical communications, and e-business technology. Soon, the institute will add a fourth specialty in bioinformatics to meet tomorrow's health-care challenges.

In the Center for Precision Metrology, a National Science Foundation Center for University and Industry Collaboration, faculty and students develop manufacturing processes for items as small as a computer chip and as large as an aircraft part. According to Director Robert Hocken, the center can measure parts to 25 nanometers, or 1/4,000th the diameter of a human hair. Ten corporate affiliates, including Intel and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, fund core research and contract for proprietary projects.

When Boeing wanted to improve the performance of its F/A-18 Super Hornet, UNC Charlotte engineers rose to the challenge. They developed manufacturing technology that dramatically reduces weight and part count for aerospace structures. With this technology, for example, an avionics tray was 11% lighter, had 84% fewer parts and was fabricated in 44.7 fewer hours. Boeing estimates that, in addition to improving performance of the new F/A-18, the technology saved the company more than $1 billion.

The Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Communication focuses on materials research as well as the fabrication and integration of materials and nanoand microstructures into manufacturable photonic circuits. These devices are critical in telecommunications, chemical and biological sensors, medical imaging and diagnostic...