Interactions with industry can serve as a rich source of fundamental research problems in fluid mechanics if approached in the right way. This involves recognizing and characterizing the complexity of industrial processes and then identifying model problems that build physical understanding, often by isolating the influence of key phenomena. In this talk, I will discuss several examples of fundamental research inspired by industrial interaction via the University of Minnesota's Industrial Partnership for Research in Interfacial and Materials Engineering, a university-industry consortium. These examples involve (i) printing processes for electronic devices, (ii) high-speed coating flows, and (iii) stability of coatings consisting of multiple layers and components. In all cases, flow visualization experiments motivate, validate, or reveal limitations of theoretical descriptions. This interplay between theory, experiment, and industrial interaction offers lessons that may be helpful to others when interacting with companies.
