Quad Participation. A company may assign one or more of its employees to become Quad members in one or more of the ARC research. This is the simplest form of partnership (no contract agreement is needed), but it does require that the participation must be beneficial to all parties. The university-based research team expects the colleagues from industry to provide insights, guidance, and in-kind support, such as equipment or summer internships for ARC student researchers. The intellectual property remains within the ARC, as governed by the policies of the participating Universities.

Contracts to expand or tailor on-going research projects. A company may become more deeply interested in an existing ARC project and desire to provide some additional funding to expand its scope and/or obtain research results that serve its particular needs more closely. A research contract can be negotiated directly between the company and one or more of the ARC participating universities. Funding will typically be directed towards supporting one or more research students, acquiring specialized equipment, and supporting a portion of the faculty's research time commitment. The contract will have its own statement of work and will be formally independent of the Army's contract with the ARC. However, both the Army and the sponsoring companies will benefit from the synergies generated by the concentration of research effort.

Contracts for new research projects. A company may sponsor a project not currently pursued in the ARC that is related and complementary to the existing ones. Based on experiences with ARC's research agenda over the years, there is a natural evolution of the research, with new ones added over time due to faculty innovations and shifting Army and industry interests. Such projects are established in the same way as (2) above.

Consortia. Two or more companies may choose to pool their resources and create a consortium that supports one or more projects or research themes with the ARC. The process is the same as in (2) or (3) above with the additional requirement that the individual companies reach a mutual agreement on the research agenda to be pursued and the individual level of commitment.

Government-Industry Partnerships. The Center has successfully brokered partnerships with government, industry and academia. Typical avenues to pursue these is through the Dual Use Science and Technology program, the Advanced Technology Program, and various initiatives by the National Science Foundation. These larger efforts require significant cost-sharing by all participants.