Specialty Fabrics Review September 2021 - 40

at Arrowhead Regional Medical
Center (ARMC), a university-affiliated
teaching hospital in Colton, Calif.,
turned to AR Tech for help in creating
a Patient Isolation & Transportation
Unit (PITU).
" He needed something to respond
to the Ebola situation, as there was an
expectation that a number of people
were going to be evacuated into our
area and Arrowhead expected to be
subjected to the influx. It was a way
to protect patients and staff, " says Bud
Weisbart, A&R Tarpaulins.
" He was looking for someone in
AR Tech, based in Fontana, Calif.,
has hosted more than 200 interns
since 1980, enhancing their academic
experience. AR Tech projects include
designing this custom specialized
case for a customer who serves the
aerospace industry. Photo: AR Tech.
the fabric field who could produce
PITU and enhance the design, "
Weisbart adds. " His attorney is a
partner with our attorney, and that's
how we got together. It was quite a
developmental process. "
An Ebola threat in California did
not come to pass, but a different health
threat certainly did. " We had no idea
about COVID, but we knew there
were other things lurking out there, "
Weisbart says. The PITU turned into
a critical tool in the fight to control
the coronavirus.
Weisbart says partnerships are an
integral part of the structure of AR
Tech. " I came out of social service
management, " he says. " Networking
was always a part of that, and I've
always felt AR Tech as much as a
manufacturer of fabric products was a
center for community education. We've
had well over 200 interns who we have
worked with since 1980. We provide-
as all businesses could-an education
outside of the academic world. "
From the academic's standpoint,
it's a matter of having the right experts
for each job in solving a real-world
problem. " It's a value proposition that
the industry is interested in university
relations, " Drexel's Kaido says. " The
approach from the university side is
that no one knows more about these
topics than we do; we're the subject
matter experts. We may not often have
the tools and resources to go to market,
but working with industry really
catalyzes commercialization that has
to happen. ... I'm just excited about
the current climate. "
Jeff Moravec is a freelance writer based
in Brooklyn Park, Minn.
A
A
TWO-WAY
STREET
new report out of Australia points
to the benefits that run both ways
when industry and academia collaborate.
Some 800 small and medium Australian
enterprises were surveyed concerning the
value of collaboration with researchers.
The results showed that companies
collaborating with researchers were
more than twice as likely to introduce
new products and services than those
that were not collaborating-66 percent
and 28 percent, respectively.
The report was released by RMIT
University, the Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research Organisation
and Queensland University of Technology.
Report author Professor Martie-Louise
Verreynne, RMIT, said enterprises
in research collaborations also
appeared to be more protected from
the pandemic's financial impacts
due to their connectedness.
" The evidence tells us that industryengaged
researchers produce more
relevant and impactful research, "
Verreynne said. " Now we also see the
benefits to business of these partnerships,
including greater innovation and resilience,
along with more access to opportunities
to pivot when needed. "
40 SPECIALTY FABRICS REVIEW / September 2021
Specialty Fabrics Review September 2021

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