By Chris Yankee


Collaboration + support
All students, faculty, staff and community members engaged in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship ecosystem; the Innovation & Entrepreneurship initiative; Venture Partners at CU Boulder

CU Boulder, which earned the Innovation & Economic Prosperity (IEP) designation in 2019 from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), received the APLU’s Innovation Award in 2021. The IEP Innovation Award recognizes exemplary initiatives spurring innovation, entrepreneurship and technology-based economic development.

The honor underscores the collective quality, efforts and impact of the university’s innovation ecosystem, including contributions of faculty, students, staff and a range of innovation partners, from federal labs and industry to community mentors and investors.

The impact of the research, creative work, innovation and commercialization emanating from CU Boulder extends well beyond the classrooms and labs on campus. The innovative contributions of the campus benefit local, state and national economies in many ways, including the creation of companies and technologies to solve society’s pressing challenges, and the cultivation of the workforce of the future.

Photo by Glenn Asakawa