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Solutions

Consortia and Innovation Ecosystems

Building multisectoral partnerships that accelerate innovation

Today’s most pressing scientific and technological challenges cannot be solved by a single organization alone. Success requires collaboration among government, industry, academia, and research institutions to transform shared goals into practical solutions that bridge scientific discovery and real-world application.  

RTI helps build ecosystems that drive innovation and accelerate impact by combining consortium management with deep scientific and technical expertise.  

Multidisciplinary expertise across mission areas 

Our expertise spans industry and application sectors, including energy, national security, health, environment, education, agriculture and food systems, and biotechnology and materials science, allowing us to support innovation ecosystems across a wide range of mission areas. We help our clients move beyond isolated challenges, where coordinated action can unlock scientific discovery and facilitate applied solutions. This expertise has resulted in RTI leading more than a dozen large-scale consortia and multi-organization partnerships with federal agencies, national laboratories, universities, nonprofits, and commercial partners.  

RTI’s end-to-end support for consortium success includes:

Developing multi-entity partnerships

Managing client funding opportunities and shared resource pools

Overseeing data governance and stewardship

Convening stakeholders through working groups and events

Managing IP

Conducting independent validation and verification

Scientific expertise integrated with consortium management and large-scale data governance 

Some organizations excel in complex project leadership, while others conduct innovative research. RTI offers both.  

RTI combines end-to-end consortium management with multidisciplinary scientific and technical expertise. We provide the governance, operations, communications, partnership management, and member engagement needed to coordinate complex, multi-organization initiatives. 

Our scientific and technical expertise strengthens both the work of the consortium and how it operates. Because our teams understand firsthand how science and innovation happen, we can design processes and structures that better support multidisciplinary collaboration. We also connect clients with networks of investigators, innovators, partners, and specialized infrastructure that help move ideas from discovery toward real-world application. 

Additionally, RTI brings decades of experience managing large-scale, complex data systems. We establish the governance, access, security, privacy, and stewardship practices needed to enable collaboration while protecting sensitive data. 

RTI’s scientific leadership for consortium success includes:

Developing research agendas

Leading multidisciplinary science

Authoring and publishing white papers

Synthesizing evidence and identifying research gaps

Evaluating emerging technologies and scientific approaches

Translating scientific discoveries into practical applications

Abstract blue and yellow graphic that visualizes data speed and network

Mobilizing a national consortium for SI-enabled science

RTI administers the Genesis Mission Consortium via TechWerx, a Department of Energy innovation hub. The consortium brings together government, National Laboratories, universities, industry, nonprofits, and philanthropic organizations to accelerate scientific discovery, energy innovation, and national security. The Consortium has grown to 70+ member organizations committing over $2.5B in resources to support the Genesis Mission.

Learn more about RTI's role in the Genesis Mission Consortium about Mobilizing a national consortium for SI-enabled science
Soldiers march forward at dusk across a flat, open landscape.

RTI advances warfighter performance through public-private collaboration

RTI leads the North Carolina Center for Optimizing Military Performance (NC-COMP), a consortium that brings together 80+ organizations across multiple disciplines, including research, medicine, health, fitness, engineering, materials, and manufacturing. The consortium accelerates the development and deployment of solutions designed to address critical warfighter performance gaps for the Department of War (DOW).  

Learn more about RTI's role in NC-COMP about RTI advances warfighter performance through public-private collaboration
Students try out engineering software using a touchscreen in the STEM-On-The-Go Van.

Leading a national STEM education consortium

RTI manages the Department of War (DOW) Defense STEM Education Consortium (DSEC). Since 2019, we have ensured transparent award management, distributing awards ranging from $175,000 to $25 million to 27 members annually, while maintaining strong governance and operational oversight. 

Learn more about RTI's role in DSEC about Leading a national STEM education consortium

Looking to launch a consortium or strengthen an existing innovation hub? Contact us to learn more.