A new umbrella, called UK Innovate, has been created under the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Kentucky. Ian McClure, associate vice president for research, innovation and economic impact will develop and oversee UK Innovate.
By placing a greater emphasis on UK’s innovation culture and promoting the innovative and entrepreneurial activity of UK’s faculty, staff, students and community, UK Innovate will help sustain increased momentum related to the university’s innovation and entrepreneurism and foster economic and societal impact.
In addition to the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC), one new focus area and an expanded scope for two additional areas will be developed and managed under UK Innovate: Social Innovation (under OTC), Innovation Economic Development, and Innovation and Entrepreneurial Training.
OTC, led by its new director Taunya Phillips, will continue its work of advancing innovations that make a difference by supporting UK innovators with intellectual property and commercialization efforts. It will continue to provide startup resources provided through its programs and Launch Blue, a partnership led by OTC with public and private organizations in the community and throughout the state.
UK’s commercialization and entrepreneurship activity have reached its highest-ever levels through the OTC, growing significantly in annual inventions (100% increase), patents (400% increase), licenses (350% increase), and startups (50% increase) compared with 2016.* During OTC’s growth, new programs were initiated that not only strengthened research innovation at UK but also spread beyond UK boundaries across the commonwealth and throughout the Southeast.
These programs foster commercialization of intellectual property across the commonwealth (Launch Blue, StartupLEX, UK Venture Fund), train and foster development of intellectual property and commercialization across the region (NIGMS XLerator Network, KYNETIC), promote economic development in Kentucky (Kentucky Commercialization Ventures, EDC Innovation Subcommittee), and foster social innovation (EnRICH), according to McClure.
Within OTC, UK Innovate will create a new Social Innovation team to advance the social impact and social enterprise from UK innovations, including in the social sciences, arts, humanities, education and other areas. Social innovation programs will be developed to sustain an inclusive innovation ecosystem ensuring broad and diverse access to services with intentional programs and projects focused on societal benefit and through innovation, creation and enterprise.
Innovation Economic Development, through its central program — UK Innovation Connect — provides dedicated efforts to support industry and other private sector partnerships for research and innovation, coordinating closely with and supporting the Office of Business Engagement and college-dedicated business development staff. Catalyzed by UK’s land grant mission, this area will also support the university’s service and economic development objectives through innovation and research, with a particular focus on alignment with Kentucky’s priority industries as well as UK’s research priority areas.
Innovation and Entrepreneurial Training will manage certain ongoing innovation and product development-focused grants and programs led by UK, as well as pursue new projects and strategic partnerships focused on innovation, translational research and entrepreneurship training, coaching and mentorship. The goal of the program will be to support professional development and a culture of innovation at UK and in Kentucky. Both Kentucky Network for Innovation and Commercialization (KYNETIC), an NIH REACH program, and XLerator Network, funded by National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) are examples of initiatives that will be developed and managed by this focus area.
“UK Research has grown by 28% over the past two fiscal years and has seen consistent growth throughout its performance under the 2015-2000 university strategic plan,” McClure said. “While OTC will continue to build commercialization successes with the great leadership of Taunya Phillips, UK Innovate endeavors to signify a concerted emphasis on innovation culture at UK, elevating innovative and entrepreneurial activity as indicative of who we are and what we do and thereby recruiting and retaining faculty, staff and student talent inclined to immerse in that culture.”
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*According to UK Innovate.
