Ford poured $60M into university research over last 2 decades

Ford Motor Company has invested $60 million into research in higher education over the last 20 years, and Michigan's universities have come away as beneficiaries.

The Dearborn-based automaker currently has grant projects with five Michigan-based universities, including the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and the University of Detroit-Mercy. Michigan's schools of higher education make up seven of Ford's 20 domestic grant projects.

"The local universities get quite a lot," says Ed Krause, an external alliances manager at Ford. "Of our two strategic university alliances, one is here at the University of Michigan. The other is MIT."

These research projects span a number of areas, such as engine and emission control at U-M. Ford isn't going out of its way to pick local schools to conduct this type of critical research; local universities are just what rise to the top when it comes to picking a partner.

"We don't pick based on geography," Krause says. "We pick the best program, let the chips fall where they may."

Source: Ed Krause, an external alliances manager at Ford Motor Company
Writer: Jon Zemke