Industrial research enhancement program at the National Synchrotron Light Source

Industrial research has attracted more and more attention recently at synchrotron facilities. Bringing the state-of-the-art research capabilities provided by these facilities to the industrial user community will help this community to improve their products and processing methods, to foster competition and build the economy. The National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) has a long and celebrated history in research partnerships with industry since its inception more than 25 years ago, and both industry and the facility have benefited tremendously from these partnerships. Over the years, the ways in which industrial research is conducted at synchrotron facilities have evolved significantly, and a new paradigm of collaboration between industry and facilities is clearly needed to address this changing situation. In this presentation, the discussion will focus on an enhancement plan recently implemented at the NSLS to address industrial users' concerns and needs. The goal of NSLS Industrial Program Enhancement plan is to encourage greater use of synchrotron tools by industry researchers, improve access to NSLS beamlines by industrial researchers and facilitate research collaborations between industrial researchers and NSLS staff as well as researchers from university and government laboratories. Examples of recent developments in these areas will be presented. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.