Changes

*Facilitating university – industry collaboration

*Engaging with regional and local economic development efforts

For a select few institutions, including some who did not sign the NACIE letter, OIE has conducted a more thorough exploration of their strategies and initiatives. The goals of these “deep dives” are to discuss the historical and cultural context for the relevant work being done at leading institutions, highlight innovative practices, and uncover future trends. Through this exploration, OIE will be better equipped to advise on policies and develop future programs.

Below is an enumeration of several Georgia Tech programs and initiatives that support the five buckets in the NACIE sponsored university commitment letter.

Students at Georgia Tech are an active part of research and discovery. In fact, over 70 percent of invention disclosures name one or more students among the inventors. As part of a broader effort to foster innovation and entrepreneurship within its student community, Georgia Tech has several initiatives, including:

*'''Ideas to SERVE (I2S)''' — An annual competition of ideas where creativity, imagination, and the use of technology are applied innovatively to solve community and social issues and sustain the environment. Started as a specialty track of the Business Plan Competition in 2009, I2S has quickly grown into a separate event, contributing to Georgia Tech’s portfolio of programs that foster entrepreneurship. I2S is open to Georgia Tech students and recent alumni.

Georgia Tech has several awards and programs to incentivize faculty to mentor graduate students, or themselves, to pursue innovative research and entrepreneurial ideas. These include:

*'''The Georgia Tech Fund for Innovation in Research and Education (GT FIRE)''' — A program that facilitates planning for large extramural proposals — those of strategic value to the Institute that have more than $500,000 in direct costs per year—and provides support for feasibility studies of transformative ideas in research and/or education. This past spring, faculty submitted 42 transformative proposals, from which three research-related ideas and four education-related ideas were selected for funding.

*'''The Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC)''' — The contracting entity responsible for several of the university’s tech transfer and licensing processes. GTRC also aims to accelerate the formation of robust Georgia Tech spinout companies and broaden participation in entrepreneurship among faculty and students. In addition, GTRC has revised master agreement terms and developed new template agreements to meet the needs of industry sponsors as technologies progress in development.

 

*'''University-Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP)''' — An activity of the National Academies that works to demonstrate innovative approaches to research engagement and improve relationships with private industry for research and commercialization of inventions. Georgia Tech has been a member and active participant since the UIDP was founded in 2005. The recently published Researcher Guide, a collaborative effort of UIDP university and industry members, provides information for university and company scientists and engineers who wish to engage in sponsored or collaborative research.

 

An economic impact study by the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business indicates that Georgia Tech made a $2.3 billion economic impact during the fiscal year 2011, the highest of any institution in the University System of Georgia (USG). The study also found that Georgia Tech generated 18,640 full- and part-time jobs. Most of the economic impact in the study consists of initial spending by USG institutions for salaries and benefits, supplies and expenses, and other budgeted expenditures, as well as spending by students who attend the institutions.

 

The Georgia Institute of Technology is a top-10 public research university and an Association of American Universities (AAU) member school. Jilda Garton’s comments have been instructive in better understanding Georgia Tech’s many entrepreneurship, research, and technology transfer programs, in addition to the impact of the NACIE commitment letter in framing Georgia Tech’s strategic plans and institutional culture.

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Economic Impact of University System Reaches $13.2 Billion: www.usg.edu/news/release/economic_impact_of_university_system_reaches_13.2_billion

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<br/>Source: "The Innovative and Entrepreneurial University: Higher Education, Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Focus", Department of Commerce, October 2013.

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