While we have had a rich history, last year celebrating an incredible first 10 years, we have an great opportunity to grow our impact. The UArizona is targeting achieving $1 billion in research expenditures in FY2025, which will translate to more invention disclosures and, ultimately, more startups, licenses, and social and economic impact.
This year, we will launch our Faculty Innovation Ambassadors program – a new initiative focused on increasing our reach throughout campus and the entire ecosystem. Starting in the winter of 2023, TLA will engage its first cohort of Faculty Innovation Ambassadors. Each ambassador – representing colleges with more active research portfolios and potential for impactful inventions – will receive special training from the TLA team, and then serve as a uniquely qualified resource and advocate for commercialization in their colleges. As extensions of the TLA team, these champions will share in the responsibilities of educating and engaging new innovators and help to build and strengthen bridges between TLA and their academic colleagues.
Our initial goal is to engage 8 Faculty Innovation Ambassadors in year one, examine our results, and grow the program accordingly in subsequent years.
At this time we recognize that there are students and researchers throughout our campus community working on impactful ideas who might not think of the solutions they are working on as “inventions.” With an eye to widening our circle and applying our expertise to helping others generate lasting societal change, we are kicking off a Social Innovation initiative to engage these untapped individuals and teams, and exploring pathways to help them develop their ideas into solutions that can have sustained, long-term impact in the world. To advance this effort, we are holding our first I-Corps cohort dedicated to social innovation – “Catalyzing Change” – in late January 2024.
We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’odham and the Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the University strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign Native Nations and Indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community service.
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