Project-driven university-industry collaboration

Abstract

Joint research between National University of Singapore (NUS) and ST Electronics Pte Ltd (STEE) started through a broad collaboration agreement, seven years ago. Collaboration was intensified by a research project that also involved two other partners, namely University of Waterloo and Netron Inc. This new project led to development of a reuse technology called XVCL. The continuity of collaboration was sustained through a projectdriven approach, that evolved around development and application of XVCL. Collaboration helped STEE to advance reuse practice via application of XVCL in several software product line projects. Early feedback from industrial applications along with many other inputs from STEE helped NUS team validate and refine XVCL reuse methods, explore new research directions, and ensured that academic research results remained in sync with industrial realities. In the paper, we describe our modes of collaboration, results, and factors that were critical to sustain collaboration and benefits gained over years on both sides.