One of the defining characteristics of an Engineering Research Center is strategic planning of the overall research effort. Strategic research planning at an ERC is a systematic, stepwise process that begins with an analysis of the state of the art in the center's field. This state-of-the-art analysis underlies the development of a center's vision of achieving major advances in a next-generation engineered system. Technical and system-level barriers are then identified that stand in the way of progress toward research objectives that, if met, will move the center toward achieving its vision.

The heart of a center's strategy is how its research is brought to bear on these barriers, which cannot be overcome without the strategic integration of interrelated research activities. Each ERC focuses its research efforts at three levels: fundamental research, development of enabling technology and tools, and the engineered systems level. An ERC's research strategy identifies what breakthroughs or developments in fundamental science and/or enabling technology are required initially and how they are interconnected. It describes how further progress will build on these achievements and contribute to a convergence on the systems level, defining which projects can and should proceed in parallel.

Examples of strategic research plans of some ERCs are given below. They cover a range from new ERCs to mature centers. For further description of the strategic research planning process, see the "ERC Best Practices Manual," Chapter 3, Research Management (section 3.2).

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