Derek Eberhart, associate vice president for research and executive director of Innovation Gateway, spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the role Innovation Gateway plays in bringing research-based products to market. In fiscal year 2024, UGA partners and startups developed 69 new research-based products — a university record.
“Moving research discoveries from our labs and fields to the market improves lives and drives economic impact as part of UGA’s land-grant mission,” Eberhart said.
Innovation Gateway is UGA’s hub for technology transfer and startup support. It works with faculty to protect intellectual property, license technologies and launch new ventures.
“Universities are not, sort of, in the business of producing products, per se, and so that’s where we need industry partners,” Eberhart said. “It’s really about finding that handoff from university research discovery to industry implementation.”
Innovation Gateway has helped introduce more than 1,200 products to market and launch more than 250 companies. The startups alone from Innovation Gateway have $531 million annual economic impact.