I*PROMS comprises a large number of associate partners to augment its research capacity and assist with the dissemination of results and spreading of excellence to the research and user communities beyond the Network. At any stage of the project, it will be possible for new organisations to join I*PROMS as associate partners.

These partners will not receive direct funding from the Network but are fully entitled to join in all the excellence spreading activities of I*PROMS.

There are six categories of I*PROMS associate partners:

• Academic Associates
• Industrial Associates
• Group Associates
• Institutional Associates
• Publishing Associates
• Public Associates

I*PROMS’s academic associates will join I*PROMS’s research projects in cases where they have niche expertise to contribute. They will also play an active regional role in the process of knowledge transfer to industry in their localities. This active engagement of local partners will ensure the widest, most cost-effective and most sustainable dissemination of I*PROMS’s results.

The role of industrial associates will be to provide industrial direction to the Network (through participation in I*PROMS’s Industrial Council) and end-user involvement, particularly for Integrated Projects launched by the Network.

Group and Institutional Associates. The number of industrial companies and other beneficiaries of the excellence spreading work of I*PROMS is multiplied manifold by including in I*PROMS “Group�? and “Institutional�? Associates whose primary role will be to help disseminate the results of I*PROMS to their members. Examples of such associates include:

• trade associations (for example, GTMA, the Gauge and Tool Makers Association and EEF, the Engineering Employers Federation, CECIMO);
• industrial fora (for example, the Welsh Automotive Forum, the Welsh Medical Forum, the Optoelectronics Forum and the Aerospace Forum);
• industry research associations (for example, PERA, the Production Engineering Research Association);
• research and technology organisations with their own networks of client companies (such as AMTRI);
• professional institutions (for example, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers).

Currently, I*PROMS has more than 7000 Industrial Associates and 20,000 engineers participating via Group and Institutional Associates. In expanding the Industrial Associate base, the focus will be on recruiting more SMEs.

Publishing Associates. To help I*PROMS achieve its ambitious dissemination targets, three major European publishers (Elsevier, Springer Verlag and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Professional Engineering Publishing) have agreed to join the Network as its “Publishing�? Associates.

Public Associates. They are local and national government funding agencies (for example, the Welsh Development Agency and the North West Development Agency). Their inclusion in I*PROMS will yield synergy between the activities of the Network and those funded by local and national programmes. For example, I*PROMS’s spin-off companies in Wales will be able to avail themselves of the Welsh Development Agency’s €200M Technium Centres Programme whilst I*PROMS’s excellence spreading activities in Wales will target companies located in the Technium Centres in the Programme.

A large number of European manufacturing companies have agreed to join I*PROMS as industrial associates. They include major companies (BOC Edwards, EADS, Battenfeld, Sun, PTC, Land Rover and FiatAvio), and many SMEs.

To join I*PROMS as an associate, download, fill in and send the join I*PROMS form.