Linfield University has been awarded a three-year, $399,979 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) through its Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) program. The project, titled “CREATE: Creating Research Enterprises Adapted for the Teaching Environment,” is a multi-institution collaboration with Grinnell College (Iowa), Saint Michael’s College (Vermont) and National University (California).
The EPIIC program supports colleges and universities in building the infrastructure and expertise needed to expand partnerships with business, industry and community organizations. By strengthening intellectual property and technology transfer (IP/TT) processes, participating schools will be better positioned to connect faculty research with external partners and contribute to the nation’s innovation economy.
At Linfield, the project is led by Beth Concepción, provost and vice president for academic affairs. She will guide a team of staff and faculty in developing “right-sized” IP/TT policies and procedures for a teaching-focused institution. The team’s work will focus on two primary goals:
- Creating a visible “front door” for external business and industry partners to collaborate with faculty on innovative STEM research with the potential for technology transfer.
- Establishing IP/TT policies and procedures tailored to Linfield’s mission.
“Our faculty already excel in collaborative research with students. This grant will provide the ability for us to better bring industry partners into the mix with the goal of putting research into practice,” Concepción said. “We want to establish a model for other teaching universities to create an innovation pipeline for students.”
As part of the CREATE collaboration, each partner institution will pursue its own projects while meeting regularly as a community of practice to share strategies and evaluate outcomes.
The project’s NSF award number is 2519808.
