The University of Georgia is putting big money up front for innovation in a higher education setting.
On Tuesday, the school announced the UGA Foundation's investment committee voted during a meeting in June to approve a commitment of up to $10 million for funding innovation.
The funding will allow the Foundation to partner with the Office of Research's Innovation Gateway to develop market-ready tech at the school, according to a news release.
“We’re thrilled by this commitment from the UGA Foundation, which will support our primary mission of making UGA innovations available for the benefit of the wider world,” Derek Eberhart, associate vice president for research and executive director of Innovation Gateway, said in a statement. “This commitment helps continue the university's positive momentum in innovation and entrepreneurship that led to the formation of UGA’s Innovation District initiative.”
The UGA Foundation connects investors with startups that use technology or other innovative services developed at the university. The investment comes just two years after UGA announced the development of its Innovation District, a physical and educational space for researching commercialization, collaborating between the university and industries and promoting public and private investments into faculty and students.
“The UGA Foundation wants to do everything possible to help foster innovation at UGA,” UGA Foundation Chairman John Crawford IV said in a statement. “It is important that the foundation serve as a strategic partner to help support one of the university’s top goals.”
The university ranked No. 2 among all U.S. universities and colleges for new products introduced to the market, according to an AUTM report. UGA has been included in the top five spots on that list for six consecutive years. The school reports its startup incubator has a $531 million national economic impact and created more than 775 commercial products.
