From Seed to Success: How UMN’s Industry Partnerships Spark Innovation Across Disciplines

graphic of three circles with the University of Minnesota logo, a globe, and the 3M logo from left to right

The University of Minnesota (UMN) has a long history of collaborating with Minnesota-based industries to drive innovation. Partnerships may include a reverse-pitch process and seed grant funding from the industry partner for projects that address a company’s innovation needs. This model allows UMN researchers to explore new ideas, fill gaps in company resources, and opens avenues for joint federal funding – ultimately helping translate ideas into real-world solutions. These partnerships have already seen successful outcomes with two projects receiving over $1M each in additional LCCMR funding in 2024. In 2025, 3M and Honeywell partnered with UMN once again, providing seed funding for eight projects.

3M Senior Staff Scientist Shri Niwas said, “We are very interested in helping our state by partnering with our neighbors at the University of Minnesota. By providing seed funding to University of Minnesota researchers, we effectively use our shared knowledge and expertise to come up with a plan to achieve an innovative solution to a research problem.

Reverse Pitch Process

To initiate the reverse-pitch process, companies submit a call for proposals to UMN researchers and professors, outlining specific research themes they wish to pursue. The objectives are to identify opportunities for new collaborations, provide data and preliminary results to support federal proposals, and establish longer-term and deeper relationships among UMN researchers and industry scientists and engineers. The research themes included:

  • advanced polymer characterization
  • catalyst development for emerging electrochemical applications
  • extreme refractive index materials
  • aerospace electrification
  • model generation for flight testing and system identification
  • photonic technology for the next generation sensors


“Research projects are selected based on current global challenges, University of Minnesota capabilities and expertise, and what 3M lacks in bandwidth to explore themselves,” said Niwas.

Proposal Presentations and Project Development

After the initial call for proposals, each company presents their research themes to UMN researchers and professors. These presentations guide the researchers in preparing and submitting their proposals. The goal for each selected project is to utilize the provided funding to generate research data during the first year, with the possibility of renewal for a second year. If the project shows promise, the collaborators may jointly apply for government funding.

Project Selection

Before the call for proposals is made, the company typically determines the number of projects they expect to fund and the amount of funding. Honeywell funded three projects including Natasha Wright’s project “Mechanical Engineering Novel Architectures for Membrane-Based Humidity Capture for PEM Fuel Cell Systems.” Wright, Richard and Barbara Nelson Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, proposed to develop a lightweight, membrane-based heat and water vapor exchanger, along with a performance prediction model. UMN researchers constructed a simple test stand to characterize the membrane humidifier design, which also served to validate the models. Additionally, the team aimed to produce a proof-of-concept prototype of the innovation.

“From a Honeywell business perspective, the partnership has been incredibly impactful and will help us go after future opportunities in collaboration with the University of Minnesota,” said Sally Ann, principal research engineer at Honeywell.

3M selected five projects in total, including “Designing Micro-Phase Separated Polymer Systems Using Machine Learning and Meso-Scale Simulation” by Qizhi He, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering, and “CEMS Catalyst Development for Emerging Electrochemical Applications” by Kelsey Stoerzinger, associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Qizhi He is developing a GenAI model to encode and generate microphase morphologies. The goal was to validate the model by comparing its generated data against simulation results using a generic copolymer system.

In Stoerzinger’s project, a PhD student is collaborating with an undergraduate student to measure samples for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hydrogen evolution, and oxidation reactions for catalysts. These promising catalysts will be characterized by electrochemical testing in the UMN Characterization Facility using techniques such as scanning electron microscopy.

Additional projects that were funded in the 2025-2026 cycle included: 

  • Advanced Polymer Characterization at The Nanoscale 
    Greg Haugstad, (UMN PI), 3M funding
     
  • Identifying Aerosol Particles Being Emitted by Infective Subjects
    Chris Hogan (UMN PI), 3M funding
     
  • Extreme Refractive Index Materials
    Uwe Kortshagen (UMN PI), 3M funding
     
  • Vehicle-as-a-Sensor for safety critical Aerospace PNT Systems
    Demoz Gebre Egziabher (UMN PI), Honeywell funding


PIs looking for future opportunities should keep an eye out for calls for proposals from the Corporate Engagement Center (CEC). They can also contact their associate dean for research or department head, or contact Leza Besemann with inquiries.

Companies that have interest in learning more about the seed funding process can contact Jason Stockman for more information.