The Institute for Convergent Science at UNC-Chapel Hill is under new management.
The university has placed the institute within Innovate Carolina, the school's initiative aimed at turning research into commercial operations. Convergent science is a form of collaborative science where researchers work in tandem with experts from multiple disciplines to put the innovation into practice.
Currently, ICS is housed within the Genome Sciences Building on UNC’s campus, and that’s where its physical location will stay.
UNC Chief Innovation Office Dedric Carter told Triangle Business Journal that he sees ICS as the “right fit” for Innovate Carolina. “The institute is bringing together science from all over with the idea that it might have high commercialization potential,” Carter said. “And that's a little bit different than your standard research.”
With more than $1.2 billion in research enterprise, there was a great need for the university to simplify the transition from research to product. Innovate Carolina’s expertise in entrepreneurship has the potential to be of great use to ICS, Carter said.
An annual data report from Innovate Carolina shows that UNC had 140 invention disclosures and 58 new U.S. patents issued in Fiscal Year 2022. The school also says that $18.4 billion in annual revenue is earned by UNC-affiliated startups.
While nothing physical is changing about ICS, Carter said the strategic alignment and direction of the institute will change. Two of his main ideas for the future of ICS include building a pipeline of research with high translation potential and pulling together programs to identify early talent needed to be entrepreneurial leads.
Campus plans revealed in 2019 proposed tearing down the UNC Naval Armory to create a new building for the ICS. Pleas from alumni and some politicians to save the historic building helped sway the UNC Board of Trustees to remove the armory from a list of campus structures to be demolished.
Since then, the institute has remained in the Genome Sciences Building.
The university this week announced the appointment of Bryant Moore as director of New Ventures and Partnerships — a new department within Innovate Carolina. Previously, Moore served as the director of Strategic Partnerships for the UNC Office of Technology Commercialization.
Innovate Carolina is now housed at new building on East Rosemary Street in downtown Chapel Hill.
