Mission
UNHI’s mission is to enable, leverage, and accelerate ideas. Through partnerships and the support of new enterprises, UNHI maximize the social and economic benefits of UNH talent, research, and resources for the state and beyond.
Vision
UNHI’s vision is a thriving innovation ecosystem with the University of New Hampshire as the thought leader and center of a vibrant and diverse economy.
UNHInnovation Units and Activities
Managing and Commercializing UNH’s Intellectual Assets
Intellectual Asset Management
Commercializing UNH’s intellectual capital is a primary goal of UNH’s Strategic Plan and a priority for UNHI. IAM evaluates innovation disclosures based on the exciting work done at UNH and, as appropriate, protects these ideas via patents, copyrights, or trademarks. The investment in UNH represents the original “seed capital” that starts ideas down the path of commercialization. Licensing managers market innovations to companies with similar research or business interests that can commit to commercializing or further developing the innovation under an appropriate license arrangement. IAM is also responsible for all start‐up company formations based on UNH’s intellectual assets and structures start‐up licenses to maximize the possibility of success.
Wildcatalyst Seminar Series
UNHI hosts a monthly Wildcatalyst Seminar Series, which explores topics related to innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization. The seminars are open to all and designed to be a meeting place for innovators, entrepreneurs, service providers, and anyone else interested in how UNH innovations become the information and opportunities of tomorrow.
Connecting the Business Community to UNH Resources
Strategic Partnerships
The Strategic Partnerships unit of UNHI seeks to develop and cultivate UNH’s long term corporate engagement strategy. Like a business concierge, UNHI is the first point of contact for companies looking to engage with UNH and helps businesses navigate the academic labyrinth of the university to find the resources they need to thrive and grow.
NH Innovation Research Center (NHIRC)
The NHIRC was created in 1991 by the New Hampshire Legislature to support innovations through industry and university collaborations, thereby increasing the number of quality jobs in the state. Since its inception, the NHIRC has awarded more than $8 million in state funds to support research projects and has been responsible for the creation or retention of more than 685 jobs. Its awardees have received more than $32 million in federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, over $950,000 in National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF-EPSCoR) funds, and over $900 million in investment/acquisition capital.
New Hampshire Innovation Research Center
Building a Culture of Ideas, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center
The Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center (ECenter) is the heart of ideas, innovation, and entrepreneurship at UNH. The ECenter exists to create the next generation of leaders with an entrepreneurial mind-set who can see opportunities and identify creative solutions others have missed, one idea at a time.
Although part of UNH, the ECenter is independent of any one college, delivering unique, hands-on experiential programming that inspires, nurtures, and mentors students from every college and major, and at every step of the process, from idea development to company creation. The ECenter also includes a student-run Makerspace, which has 3D printers, a laser cutter, a vinyl cutter, an industrial sewing machine, electronic parts/pieces, a soldering station, and a wide variety of tools for all UNH students to experiment with their ideas and build prototypes.
Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center (ECenter)
UNHI also supports the UNH InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL) and the Connectivity Research Center
The UNH InterOperability Lab
The UNH InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL) is dedicated to being the world’s premier data networking resource. Beginning in 1988, the UNH-IOL has built a multi-million-dollar testbed and developed testing solutions to help companies efficiently and cost effectively deliver products to market. UNH-IOL’s services fit the needs of the market, while maintaining broad, comprehensive interoperability and conformance testing of networking, data, telecommunications, and storage products. The industry relies on UNH-IOL’s extensive staff experience, standards-bodies participation, 28,000+ square foot facility, and 100+ students who represent the future of interoperability testing and verification.
Connectivity Research Center
Connectivity is a multi-disciplinary research center focused on network engineering, cyber security, and collateral technology areas. The center investigates next generation communication systems to enable a more connected world. The networking research is also an enabling technology for other groups at UNHI. Connectivity enjoys partnerships with industry, academia, and federal agencies.
View Commercialization & Innovation Knowledge Base
The Knowledge Base contains forms, instruction and training material, minutes, policies, tools and other resources to support your research efforts by topic area.
Contact Information
For more information about UNHInnovation, please contact unh.innovation@unh.edu
