Want to take your research further?
There are resources to help you maximize your research impact ranging from funding opportunities, informational sessions, training programs, and more.
Researcher Resources
Oregon State is strengthening the support system for faculty and staff innovation and entrepreneurship activities by offering a variety of resources to help you maximize societal and economic impact.
Research shows that industry connections, patents and commercialization activities provide additional funding opportunities for research, increased research productivity and student success, expanded recognition and tangible societal benefit from the scientific research [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 May 6; 111(18): 6542–6547].
While there are numerous pathways toward commercialization, two key options are licensing the innovation/technology from OSU to 1) a Startup or 2) an Industry/External Company. Startup companies can be acquired by an existing industry company or go directly toward product sales and commercialization.
Two examples of successful OSU technology commercialization are NuScale Power and Agility Robotics.
There are resources to help you along the way:
I&E Training Programs
The OSU Advantage Accelerator supports the development of high-growth companies through tailored programing and aligned funding:
- The Iterate program is a free, four workshop series offered once per term (excluding summer) designed to help you evaluate early stage ideas from an entrepreneurial mindset.
- The Accelerate program is an 8-10 week program offered each term (excluding summer) for participant teams to learn how to evaluate and iterate your business concept with feedback, talk to customers, design a viable business model, and present your new business concept to the world.
Support & Resources
- A process for academic startups to secure short term commercialization space on campus
- Due to an increase in demand from researchers who are working toward commercializing their research, there is an opportunity to pilot a process for identifying and securing short term (up to 6 – 24 months) space on campus.
- The OSU Advantage Intellectual Property & Licensing team leads the commercialization of OSU innovations by:
- Developing intellectual property protection strategies
- Executing research, confidentiality, material transfer, licensing, and other industry agreements
- The Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Institute (ATAMI) provides access to unique tooling and development opportunities aligned with advanced technologies and manufacturing. ATAMI has faculty labs, OSU startups, state-of-the-art facilities and experienced staff committed to your success.
- Innovation Co-Lab at OSU-Cascades provides coaching, space and hands-on help to grow your business.
- The Glady’s Valley Marine Studies Building Innovation Lab at the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center offer the space and equipment needed to take a project from the idea phase to production and on to market.
- The OSU Prototype Development Lab focuses on interacting with industry and entrepreneurs to solve real world problems, deliver results having practical bottom-line value and provide outstanding experiential learning for students.
- Impact Studio is where teams of faculty and staff develop and launch bold initiatives that advance Oregon State's strategic goals and improve the university's financial strength.
- Vertuelab helps startups navigate the complexity to create successful SBIR/STTR applications
Funding Opportunities
- A $5,000 Innovation Day Award available for eligible faculty members as part of Innovation Day each term.
- UVDF AID & Impact funding information
- An overview of more funding opportunities
Student Resources
Why should students engage in I&E Activities?
Learning to think innovatively and entrepreneurially will help make you career resilient – which is a key to long-term financial success. The pace of change in the economy continues to increase, and employers are more interested in graduates who have I&E skills. College is a great time to explore resources for learning more innovation and entrepreneurship skills to assist you in your post-college career.
No matter your degree path or major focus of study, there are I&E resources available to you.
Entrepreneurship Training
- The OSU Advantage Accelerator supports the development of high-growth companies through tailored programing.
- The Advantage Accelerator Internship is a paid student job opportunity designed to give hands on experience researching the commercialization potential of business concepts originating from the OSU community.
- The COB Innovation X programming allows students to explore entrepreneurship, test new business ideas and launch new ventures.
- The Next Great Startup is yearly competition for student-led teams looking to turn a startup idea into a real company.
Support Resources
- Student Clubs - OSU maintains a database of over 400 student clubs to connect students with insights on a large range of student resources and areas of interests.
- The College of Business Student Clubs range from Business Information Systems, Entrepreneurship Club, and more.
- Access to The DAMLab Makerspace is also available to members of certain clubs, such Robotics Club, 3D Printing Club, and Inventors Enterprise Club
- The DAMLab Makerspace provides access to a wide range of tools, enabling student innovation from design through manufacture.
- Undergraduate Student Research opportunities are available for students from all backgrounds. Learn more about opportunities and how to get involved on the Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and the Arts website.
- Undergraduate Research Program Opportunities list.
- Research for Undergraduates Network (RUN) is a community of undergraduate research mentors (faculty, graduate students, & post-docs) and those who facilitate undergraduate research programs at OSU who collaborate and share promising practices.
- Graduate School Support Resources
Academic Courses/Degrees
- The College of Business offers an Innovation and Entrepreneurship program as both a minor and as an option for Business Majors, an Innovation Management Double Degree, and advanced degrees such as a Ph.D. with an option in Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation. To learn more about the COB program offerings focused on Innovation, please refer to the Classes and Degrees listing.
- The College of Engineering opportunities include the HEST/ANTH 199 Introduction to Innovation for Social Impact course and the HWeekend event.
- The College of Science has a training and education program, which builds value for the innovation and the innovator, providing scientists and engineers with the full range of vocabulary and skills required for successful translation of research into commercial ventures. Program Includes: Foundations of Innovation SCI 470 and SCI 570
- The College of Liberal Arts offers a couple courses currently to help budding artists better understand how to leverage their career. ART 451 Introduction to Arts Entrepreneurship (cross listed as ART 451/MUS451/TA451) and NMC 441 Media Entrepreneurship Studies.
Want to learn more about specific opportunities to engage with I&E options in your college?