Drexel Applied Innovation Milestones
The Applied Innovation unit within ORI provides technology transfer services to expand the impact of Drexel research. FY25 was a year of refocus and renewed partnerships around three key pillars of academic tech transfer. The team focused most of their efforts on Intellectual Property & Agreements and Industry Engagement while pivoting in Entrepreneurial Advancement support toward enhanced partnerships with the Drexel community and local innovation ecosystem.
Despite some challenges this past year with staff reduction and turnover, the Applied Innovation team continued to deliver a high level of service and performance, including the execution of 14 new licenses, 25 issued US patents, support for 56 invention disclosures, and a sixth investment to date in a Drexel-affiliated startup through the Drexel University Innovation Fund.
Protecting Drexel discoveries and developing agreements that support confidentiality, material transfer, licensing, and industry sponsored research is a central focus of the group’s work. Intellectual property (IP) protection can be a key part of translating academic innovations into commercial products and services when balanced with the upside potential to the institution to recover those IP investments. The goal is not simply the pursuit or attainment of patents, but timely and appropriate support for promising innovations that have the potential for commercialization and impact. In FY25, the team worked closely with many faculty and students at different phases of their Drexel journey, from different disciplines and across academic units, in protecting their ideas and supporting their engagements with a variety of partner institutions, entrepreneurs, and companies.
The Industry Engagement team continued to promote Drexel research and technologies last year, connecting Drexel faculty to small and large companies as well as to innovation-focused funding platforms. They facilitated the research components of several campus and company visits with industry partners to strengthen their relationships with Drexel and to identify potential opportunities for sponsored research or other enhanced collaboration. They also supported the IP team with the marketing of selected Drexel inventions and IP assets for commercial interest and feedback, and plan to do more of that in the coming year.
Supporting Entrepreneurial Advancement, Drexel Applied Innovation coordinated and managed the third cohort of the Drexel University Innovation Fund (DUIF) this past year. The Fund invests $150,000 in early-stage student, alumni, and tech transfer startups coming out of Drexel. The team continued to work closely with the Close School for Entrepreneurship and an outside Investment Advisory Committee. Last January, Drexel announced a single investment in Ultrafix, an orthopedic medical device startup. The Fund portfolio now includes a total of six companies, including four startups that grew out of research innovations discovered in Drexel labs.
The Applied Innovation team also continued to work closely with the Coulter-Drexel Translational Research Program, supporting IP development and industry feedback on Coulter-funded projects which have the potential to improve patient care.
To assist Drexel faculty and graduate students considering new ventures with the customer discovery process, the team also continued to support Drexel’s participation in the regional NSF I-Corps Hub. In FY25, they were pleased to collaborate once again with Dr. Caroline Schauer in this important work, and transitioned Drexel’s role in the Hub to her leadership with support from the Coulter-Drexel program team.
In FY26, Applied Innovation remains focused on protecting and promoting Drexel research and technologies through Intellectual Property & Agreements and Industry Engagement efforts. The office is revisiting and redefining core processes to (i) better support University Academic Transformation and financial resilience efforts, (ii) engage and serve inventors currently at Drexel, (iii) meet Federal compliance requirements, and (iv) focus limited budget and staff resources on meeting our mission of driving impact.
In this renewed focus, we will pursue or maintain appropriate levels of intellectual property protection for selected Drexel innovations and market those technologies. Our goal is not simply to secure and maintain patents, but to increase the impact of Drexel innovations through licensing. Therefore, we are assessing the age, stage, and commercial relevance of Drexel IP to support and market those assets with real potential for translation, commercialization, and future revenue. We are also reviewing licensing practices and relationships to recover patent costs and generate revenue. Our team is guided in this work by standard practices in university tech transfer and AI-driven tools for technology and market assessment, promotion, and industry engagement. We look forward to continuing to work with Drexel researchers, the innovation community, and external stakeholders in these efforts.
Visit the Applied Innovation Website