The Innovation Institute supported research activities through the Institute’s University Match Fund. The goal was to assist research centers in developing capacity for innovation that helps research outcomes translate into business opportunities.
These awards helped build the capacity to link research and development to the needs of business and industry and to support technology commercialization. Thus, the Innovation Institute’s large investment in research and development centers included funding for business and industry engagement (including applied research projects with industry), business outreach activities, conferences, and other efforts to inform industry about the work and discoveries at research centers, and the exploration of new commercial applications of centers’ research. Investments in this strategy also consisted of support for programs and services that accelerate commercialization of university or institute-based research, financing and business development initiatives for technology-based enterprises, and specialized facilities and applied research projects linked to commercialize specific discoveries or technologies.
