The University of Minnesota launched a record-breaking 23 startup companies in fiscal year (FY) 2023, the result of a growing research portfolio, an increasingly entrepreneurial faculty culture, and years of careful program growth and refinement by the teams at Tech Comm and its Venture Center as they work to successfully shepherd U of M innovations to market.
“We didn’t just wake up one day and find ourselves to be the largest creator of startup companies in Minnesota,” said Rick Huebsch, Associate Vice President for Research, Technology Commercialization. “We’ve spent years fine tuning the process and building the ecosystem, and we’re fortunate to have access to researchers who are embracing entrepreneurship and partners at the University and beyond that can help us build innovation. It takes a village to turn research innovation into a commercial success and it feels like we have many of the right pieces in place.”
In FY 2023, U of M was awarded 234 new US and foreign patents—a level second only to the previous year’s record 241 patents—received 360 new invention disclosures, executed 231 licensing deals, submitted 146 first patent filings, and earned licensing revenue of over $16 million, much of which is reinvested in research and innovation at the University.
The 235 U of M startups spunout since 2006 have a survival rate of over 75% and have attracted more than $1.8 billion in investment capital, IPOs and acquisitions. More than 70% of U of M startups are located in Minnesota.
Additional technology transfer metrics are available on the statistics page.