As a leading American research university, the University of Minnesota advances knowledge across a wide range of fields, yielding new solutions and technologies that can then be commercialized to benefit the public, foster economic growth, and generate revenue to further support the University’s mission. Technology transfer measures are part of the goals of MPact 2025, the University’s systemwide strategic plan.
The University of Minnesota launched a record-breaking 26 startups in fiscal year (FY) 2025. UMN also received 450 new invention disclosures (another new record), executed 248 licensing deals, and submitted 116 first patent filings.
Technology commercialization statistics (below) reflect deal flow from year to year and are subject to significant volatility. Typically, the University of Minnesota is ranked among the top 10-20 US public universities for key technology transfer metrics.
Startup Companies
Since the 2006 founding of the Venture Center, which is a division of University of Minnesota Technology Commercialization, the University has launched 286 startup companies, with a long term success rate of 69%. Additionally, 74% of these companies have located in Minnesota. In FY2025, 77% of new University startups — 20 out of 26 — located in-state. The 26 startups also meet the University’s goal to spin out “25 by 2025” under MPact 2025.
Ten UMN startups have been acquired or gone public in the past decade, and overall UMN startups have attracted more than $3.5B in IPOs, acquisitions, and funding, according to a 2024 survey. See a video about the University’s 120 startups launched since 2025.
The University is:
- Launching high quality companies at a higher rate across a diverse mix of industries
- Populating its startup pipeline with more ideas and more potential startup companies than ever before
- Investing additional resources in its venture work
- Working with companies outside the University in partnership with the state’s Launch Minnesota program
The University’s technology transfer work has been recognized for its excellence in national and global rankings:
- UMN is in the top 20 public universities for five key tech transfer metrics: startups (2nd), deals (2nd), disclosures (7th), New Patent Applications (13th), and License Income (12th); AUTM 2023 Survey
- 9th among US public universities granted US Utility Patents; National Academy of Inventors Top 100, 2024
New Initiative to Support Future Innovation
The University seeks to amplify its proven process for getting opportunities to innovators and innovations to market under its Discover→Advance→Impact™ fundraising initiative. The initiative seeks to raise $40 million to add more capital to its proven end-to-end tech transfer model that is currently undersized relative to the innovation pipeline.
Annual Research Reports
See our 2025 Annual Report on Technology Commercialization (print version).
Learn more about the University's research enterprise.