Effective October 2015, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is a member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), a non-profit member organization of over 200 American and international universities, along with governmental and non-profit research institutions. With over 3,000 individual inventor members and fellows, membership is by invitation.
Founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the NAI’s goal is to enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society.
This fits in with UTSA’s mission to advance knowledge through research and discovery. We have developed an innovation ecosystem that bridges student and faculty entrepreneurship training, prototyping, start-up competitions, venture mentor network, and investment opportunities, available to all UTSA students and faculty through the Center for Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CITE).
“By joining the National Academy of Inventors, UTSA can build collaborative relationships with other member institutions that value innovation and research as we do. We can also leverage the collective knowledge of the membership,” said Christine Burke, PhD, MBA, Director of the UTSA Office of Commercialization and Innovation.
In the past few years, UTSA has grown its innovation and commercialization program by providing new development opportunities and resources, including:
· The first Texas NSF I-Corps site
· Boot camps and an annual $100,000 competition
· A mentorship network
· A New Venture Incubator program to encourage university-industry collaborations
· Novel industrial partnerships
· A proof-of-concept fund for prototype development, and
· An Entrepreneurs Academy™ that has grown to provide a support network across the entire UT System.
“When you analyze our rankings, one of the attributes that sets UTSA apart is the number of patents and publications our faculty produces. This membership acknowledges the strides in our goal in becoming a Tier One institution,” added Dr. C. Mauli Agrawal, UTSA Vice President for Research.
With an academic culture that encourages undergraduate research, UTSA also benefits from its twenty independent research centers and institutes. Hosting the top ranked Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) network in the country, UTSA has a $1.2 billion annual impact on the city of San Antonio.
