The University of Delaware and biotech company Fraunhofer USA have forged a new six-year partnership the university describes as a win-win-win: a win for the university, a win for Fraunhofer and an economic win for the state of Delaware, according to NewsWorks.

"They're taking research that's coming out of laboratories, like at the University of Delaware, and they have scientists and engineers working on actually converting that into real inventions," said UD’s Dr. Karl Steiner. "And inventions will lead, therefore, to small companies, hopefully bigger companies, that create jobs."

The Newark-based Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology (CMB) said turning ideas into real products typically takes more than 10 years and hundreds of millions of dollars. But with this new partnership in place, the university and CMB hope to streamline the development process.

Delaware also has a stake in how well CMB performs in the world of bio-based vaccine production. Delaware Economic Development Office Secretary Alan Levin said the state owns 5% of CMB stock and believes combining UD's strengths with Fraunhofer's can only lead to success.

The state has approved a $6 million investment over the six years for CMB, and come September Secretary Levin said he'll recommend to the Council on Development Finance an additional $3 million, which works out to about $1.5 million a year over the six-year timeframe.