School:University of New Hampshire
Contents
PROMOTING STUDENT INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The University of New Hampshire is one of only 17 institutions in the nation designated as a land, sea, and space grant. As a premier research institution, UNH is home to a wide array of high quality faculty of diverse fields of study who share an interest in tackling the grand challenges of the day. The focus on inspiring and transforming students, especially through enriching programs of study with hands-on research experiences provides an excellent platform for students the engage in innovation and entrepreneurship. The newly formed ECenter (entrepreneurship center) was created to fill some of the final gaps in the I&E ecosystem by creating a centralized, college agnostic, integrated solution, it’s even equipped with a student-run makerspace. One challenge before us is that students, for the most part, have not discovered how or why I&E is important to them. They have not discovered that they are the change agents the world needs, and that they have the power to help address some of the most grandiose challenges of the day. The second challenge to the UNH I&E landscape is that if UNH’s legislative support were to be doubled tomorrow, it would still be the least state funded public school in the nation; receiving about 10% of the annual budget from the state compared a national average of around 50%.
ENCOURAGING FACULTY INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
There are many serial entrepreneurs among our faculty, and many research areas which demonstrate very exciting potential commercial applications. UNHInnovation, the department home to the ECenter, technology transfer office, and more does actively encourage and support faculty (and students) engaging in entrepreneurship. The university is also in a period of ushering in newer and younger faculty, who tend to be more interested in launching a start-up out of their research and there is interest in leveraging that change within the university leadership to promote further encourage of faculty innovators. Events like the annual Innovators Dinner, celebrate faculty innovators and provide a cultural mechanism to reinforce the importance of I&E.
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
UNH has a strong technology transfer office, which works closely with researchers to provide not only intellectual asset management support but also a wide array of business development resources. The technology transfer office also engages in outreach efforts to encourage the disclosure of inventions that might otherwise have gone unreported, encourages and supports inventors of technology commercializing it themselves or will work to find a licensee bringing royalties to the inventors, their department and the university at large.
UNIVERSITY - INDUSTRY COLLABORATION
Under the guidance of the UNHInnovation office, a new initiative to create a holistic centered approach to corporate, public, and economic engagement. There is a new high-powered staff dedicated to promoting new relationships with partners in research collaboration, technology licensing, academic partnerships, workforce preparation, donations solicitation, and more.
FUTURE WORK
It is a really exciting time to be at UNH and have the chance to bear witness to the sweeping positive changes underway. That is not to say we are without challenges. We need to encourage more students to think about taking on the grand challenges of the day, create in roads between the silos that arise out of differences in fields of specialization by promoting interdisciplinary interactions, and create a shared mechanism to introduce students in all discipline to innovation and entrepreneurship to teach entrepreneurship as a mindset to form a common basis as they go on to learn specialized skills. Finally, we need to find a source of funding to support these new initiatives and grow those already in place.