Xerox Research Centre of Canada strikes multi-faceted alliance with Battelle

The Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) is joining forces with the world's largest contract research organization to accelerate its strategy to open its facility and researchers to external collaboration and commercialization (R$, November 29/11). The marketing and research pact with the Battelle Memorial Institute marks the first time XRCC has entered such a broad alliance with an external partner. It also renews XRCC's ties with an organization that was instrumental in the development and launch of the Xerox's breakthrough technology in the 1940s.

The alliance affords each organization access to their respective research and marketing expertise and specialized facilities, enhancing their respective offerings.

The Columbus OH-based Battelle is particularly interested in XRCC's pilot and scale-up facilities and expertise in materials research and printable electronics. XRCC stands to benefit from Battelle's massive client base, research strength and marketing muscle, which will boost the number of clients using the Mississauga ON-based facility.

For XRCC, external collaboration and increasing contract research has proven a potent motivating force for its researchers who are already known as prolific patenting machines. The Battelle alliance is a major step forward in that new direction.

"There's lots of change. We're still Xerox global materials research but we're letting it out of the box. It's part of our strategy to fill out the value chain from design to test to scale-up to the delivery of a product," says Dr Paul Smith, VP and director of XRCC. "I0t's great for keeping our researchers motivated … (External collaboration) could eventually equal the amount of research we do for the corporation … We can bring Battelle in for our projects and vice versa. We're also looking at new clients together."

Part of global research network

XRCC is part of the Xerox Innovation Group, comprised of five globally focused research centers. The other centres are: Palo Alto Research Centre; Xerox Research Center Webster; Rochester NY; Xerox Research Centre Europe, Meylan France; and Xerox India Innovation Hub, Chennai India.

In April, XRCC received a major boost to its contract research efforts with the signing of a multi-year materials research services agreement with Dallas TX-based Authentix, a developer of security authentication products for a wide range of industry sectors. Smith says it will continue to pursue other companies seeking to access its specialized contract research facilities and expertise, adding and that Xerox sees the greatest growth in helping small firms grow and commercializing research.

Longer term, XRCC and Battelle are exploring an area of materials science that will allow them to collaborate jointly. A decision on the specific focus of the project in the automotive, aerospace or medical sector is expected within a year

"The joint research project will enable our two organizations to develop competencies together in innovative areas," says Smith. "It will enable XRCC to apply its core competencies in materials design, synthesis and scale-up in new important market segments, where Battelle already has a renowned expertise."

For Battelle, the alliance marks the first time the time its consumer, industrial and medical division has engaged with a Canadian entity. The two-year agreement — with an option for extension — gives the organization access to facilities and research expertise in capabilities it lacks, such as printable electronics, broadening its offerings to its existing and potential client bases.

"XRCC is world class and complementary to our skill sets and fills holes in our portfolio," says Bill Dunlevy VP and GM of Battelle's consumer, industrial and medical business unit. "In materials science R&D, XRCC is at the top of the list in the world. This is the first Canadian collaboration for my business unit."

Back to the future

The alliance, which was launched two months ago, will begin with marketing with co-training initiatives on what they have to offer joint customers. By offering each other access to existing customers, Xerox and Battelle hope to bring new materials science-based products to market and have a reciprocal impact on R&D and sales.

"In a way it's back to the future. When Chester Carlson (the inventor of xerography, a dry photocopying technique) came to Battelle in the 1940s we were a small materials lab. While other companies had turned him down we said ‘yeah' and it propelled us onto the world stage and wrote the DNA for this company," says Dunlevy.

By assisting Haloid (later Xerox) in the development of the first photocopier on a royalty-sharing basis, Battelle was able to pursue more basic science, establishing a blueprint for future growth.

Today Battelle has 22,000 employes, revenue of more than $6 billion and three major lines of business: contract research, national laboratory management and development of new technologies.

"This alliance with Xerox is a renewal of our relationship after more than 50 years," says Dunlevy. ""In addition to marketing we'll also be pursuing joint internal R&D."

The Battelle alliance represents another major step towards transforming XRCC into an outward-looking corporate laboratory by building alliances, sharing and leveraging expertise with other organizations.

Late last year XRCC became a key partner in a new Printable Electronics Consortium back-stopped by the National Research Council. Xerox was an early entrant into the field and XRCC has been conducting related research for more than a decade (R$, October 10/13)

Further enhancing XRCC's expanded mandate is the decision to co-locate the Research, Innovation and Commercialization (RIC) Centre within the Xerox facility in Mississauga's Sheridan Research Park. The provincially supported RIC offers a limited number of incubator spaces for select entrepreneurs who have access to XRCC's research infrastructure for between six and nine months. The RIC — a member of the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs — is aiming to fast track the businesses in the areas of advanced manufacturing, aerospace, life sciences and emerging technologies.

"This is the aim on a national basis, to de-risk materials research using specialized equipment," says Smith. "We have clients like this and more are coming."

Time will tell whether the new activities being launched under the new strategy will help to boost Xerox's annual R&D outlays. In 1999, R&D spending was $22 million and rose to $25.6 in 2010 before falling back to $18.1 million in 2012.

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