Skip to main content
University of Michigan Innovation Partnerships
University of Michigan Innovation Partnerships

About Us

Innovation Partnerships serves as the primary gateway for researchers seeking to increase the impact of their work. We provide this service to U-M faculty by connecting with the private sector through corporate-sponsored research collaborations, licensing discussions or connections with entrepreneurs and investors to support startup company formation. Our team of licensing, business development and investment professionals provides comprehensive step-by-step service to faculty starting with invention assessment and intellectual property support, followed by business mentoring and connections to early-stage capital from the Accelerate Blue Fund. We are a unit within the Office of the Vice President for Research.

Our team also helps faculty create new research collaborations, allowing us to leverage strong relationships with industry partners, investors and entrepreneurs to positively impact society and drive economic growth. We provide support to the faculty and researchers at all schools and colleges on the Ann Arbor campus, as well as U-M’s Dearborn and Flint campuses.

We connect your research with those who need it, create companies that pioneer solutions or simply provide counsel to broaden opportunities. We support the broad dissemination of scholarly output by providing open access channels and open source licensing models.

Our experts champion the creation of corporate research alliances and collaborations to accelerate the development of promising research. We enable the translation, commercial development and licensing of groundbreaking research discoveries and technologies. We help create new ventures to usher in change.

We Are Inspired

To redefine how world-class university research can fuel a region and solve the world’s great challenges.

We Believe In

Purpose

It’s our job to give every U-M technology its very best chance to positively impact the world.

Stewardship

We acknowledge the enormous responsibility we have to our inventors and the technologies entrusted to our care.

Experimentation

Like the scientists we serve, we believe in challenging assumptions, testing new approaches and deploying innovative solutions.

Innovation

We believe in the transformative power of research, and we are inspired to create new models for university tech commercialization.

Service

We believe in providing phenomenal inventor-centered customer service.

Trust

We understand that it is our duty to provide transparent, proactive and honest advice.

Collaboration

We believe that we accomplish more by working together and sharing our individual knowledge.

Diversity

We know that we do our best work when we harness the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of our team members.

Relationships

It’s our objective to create long-term relationships that serve the University of Michigan community – not just win negotiations.

Impact

We are motivated to change lives, positively impact society and advance our region’s innovation ecosystem.

Joy

We enjoy working with one another and we believe in celebrating success.