I2P Whitepaper

The following informational piece was submitted to the St. Louis Regional Idea 2 Product competition in early 2009.

The Interdisciplinary Design Collaborative first began in August of 2008, started by a group of undergraduate students attending the Missouri University of Science and Technology. This group was unsatisfied with existing job opportunities for the general student body in Rolla, Missouri. The unusually high technical expertise and problem solving skills of the students attending the university was identified as a large untapped resource. In order to take advantage of this supply of talent, a structure was developed to allow for multiple simultaneous projects of various disciplines to happen concurrently. These projects come from a variety of sources and are funded using different methods, depending on the project. A Project Manager is selected for each project, and this individual is responsible for building an appropriate team to satisfy the end goals they set out to complete. Due to the various engineering disciplines offered in the curriculum of the school, many times these usually hard-to-find skill sets are easily found on campus. This model continues to serve as an effective tool to engage students in real-life situations to gain skills and experience, resume material, a competitive income and most important of all, the potential for a full time position upon graduation.

IDC was registered as an LLC in September of 2008. Mr. Michael Orlando serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the executive board, and RJ Miller and Colby Hall serve as the Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Operating Officer, respectively. This group of leaders performs tasks associated with operation of the projects, seeking opportunities for new ventures and other things that do not fall under the purview of a specific project. Mr. Orlando and Mr. Miller have a background in Interdisciplinary Engineering and the design process, and have used their background to build a very flexible organization that can accommodate project not normally suitable for an organization the size of IDC. Mr. Hall has a background in Engineering Management and provides the complimentary structure to the organization, allowing it to take advantage of tried-and-true practices universally accepted by industry.

Projects are primarily based in one of three categories. The first projects were internal to IDC, funded using a “profit-equity” system in which those that work the hardest are rewarded the most if the project becomes profitable. This model is acceptable for high-risk project requiring only labor as capital, such as software development. The second category of projects is external, contract based. These are projects in which a specific client has requested services of the company and is expected to pay in full upon completion of the project deliverables. The final category is external, grant and competition based projects. These projects require a significant upfront investment in proposal writing and have no guarantee for success. However, the grant programs IDC has applied to (such as the SBIR/STTR program) are very well suited for the company because the pitfalls of such programs, such as the “valley-of-death” can be easily accommodated by those working for IDC. Since most are part time employees, they can be flexible in the week-by-week time requirements that projects demand. Due to the close working relationship with the university, finding an academic link to field leaders requires very little effort. These academic links help significantly strengthen the proposals and can sometimes even lead to technology transfer outside of the university. Each project team is selected before the proposals are written in order to ensure all aspects and disciplines required in a proposal are fully covered.

The Energy Conscience project is an excellent example of an external, grant-based project. A Phase 1 SBIR solicitation for modular wireless sensors to monitor home energy consumption was released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in late 2008. This $90,000 grant is intended to allow for the development of sensors which, when installed in a typical home or small business, would allow the owner to see the kinds of energy usage of each wall plug, light switch, appliance, TV, heater, water heater, A/C unit, etc… The sensors would be developed in such a way as to transfer the information directly to an easy to understand central display or computer. Studies have shown this simple education of the building owner reduces consumption up to 27%, yet there is no user-friendly manufacturer on the market today. IDC assembled a team consisting of members of the Show-Me Solar team, which has competed in the last four Solar Decathlons sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. These members were chosen specifically because of their knowledge with existing sensor solutions used in the university’s previous competition homes. A link with Missouri S&T also allowed for use of their “Solar Village” to test and otherwise calibrate the new modular sensors. Capitalizing on their experience with the Solar Decathlon, IDC’s newly formed team pursued a Missouri Technology Incentive Program (MoTIP) Phase 0 grant and then applied those monies to employ other students to write the full Phase 1 proposal. If successful in winning this grant and developing the technology, IDC will form a subsidiary firm in Rolla to manufacture the system components and distribute them to installers nationwide. Not only are the energy saving implications of this project significant, but also the potential job creation and financial success that would come along with them.

IDC has pursued a variety of projects from iPhone applications to autonomous robots. With the flexibility offered by the corporate model, new potential pathways of success are found every day.