Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Providing step-by-step support for graduate students, postdocs and faculty to translate lab-scale innovation into real-world impact.

About Innovation & Entrepreneurship at CU Engineering

The goal of CU Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science Innovation & Entrepreneurship initiative is to cultivate a community of scholars with entrepreneurial mindsets who partner with government and industry to accelerate innovation and advance economic growth locally, nationally and globally.

Through programs and partnerships across CU Boulder and within Colorado’s dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem, we empower students, postdocs, faculty and other researchers to gain hands-on experience, explore commercialization pathways and grow their careers.

Whether you are advancing groundbreaking research, launching a venture or seeking to collaborate with industry, CU Engineering’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship initiative provides the resources, mentorship and support to help you transform bold ideas into technologies that change the world.

Stay Connected

Sign U p : CU I nnovator Newsletter

Still have questions? Don’t know where to begin?
Contact Wil Srubar, Deming Associate Dean for Innovation & Entrepreneurship or Venture Partners.

Cumulative No. Optioned or Licensed

Number of patents optioned or licensed chart data

College of Engineering and Applied Science

FY 2021–22: 43 options or licenses, cumulative total 43

FY 2022–23:36 options or licenses, cumulative total 79

FY 2023–24:41 options or licenses, cumulative total 120

FY 2024–25:43 options or licenses, cumulative total 163

Cumulative No. Patents Granted

Number of patents granted chart data

College of Engineering and Applied Science

FY 2021–22: 35 patents granted, cumulative total 35

FY 2022–23:48 patents granted, cumulative total 83

FY 2023–24:76 patents granted, cumulative total 159

FY 2024–25:43 patents granted, cumulative total 202

Cumulative No. Startups

Chart showing cumulative number of startups at CU Boulder and the College of Engineering & Applied Science

Number of startups chart data

CEAS = College of Engineering & Applied Science

FY 2021–22: 8 CEAS, 4 CU, cumulative total 12

FY 2022–23: 14 CEAS, 8 CU, cumulative total 22

FY 2023–24: 36 CEAS, 21 CU, cumulative total 57

FY 2024–25: 53 CEAS, 26 CU, cumulative total 79

Begin Your Journey

Disclose Your Innovation

Share your innovation prior to publication or other public dissemination to Venture Partners, the University's technology transfer office. Early disclosure ensures that intellectual property can be properly evaluated and protected before it enters the public domain. You can easily submit a disclosure online through the Sophia Inventor Partner.

Get Started: Intellectual Property 101

Disclose an Innovation: Access the Sophia Inventor Portal

Discover the Market

Identify and talk with potential customers and evaluate the product-market fit of your innovation. This process will help you understand the real-world problems your technology can solve and the value it provides to different stakeholders. Venture Partners offers programs through NSF I-Corps that connect you with market research and customer discovery resources to guide this process.

NSF I-Corps Hub West: Starting Blocks. Whether a researcher, entrepreneur, inventor or problem solver, the Starting Blocks Customer Discovery Workshop at Venture Partners at CU Boulder can help you transform your concept into a successful venture.
NSF I-Corps Hub West: Research2Market. (January, April, August, November) This four-week program helps teams through customer discovery and finding a market for their innovation. Specifically designed for researchers, entrepreneurs, inventors and problem solvers commercializing their innovations.
NSF I-Corps National Program: $50,000. (Spring, Fall) I-Corps prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the laboratory to increase the economic and societal impact of NSF-funded and other basic research projects.

Decide Your Commercialization Route

Choose between licensing with industry or launching a startup. Venture Partners can help you evaluate which path best aligns with your goals, resources, and the stage of your innovation. Factors such as market size, development needs, and your desired level of involvement often guide this decision.

EMBARK Deep Tech Startup Creator. For CU researchers, inventors, and creators who are not interested in starting a company themselves with their innovation, EMBARK provides a powerful avenue for an entrepreneur to bring their technology to market and create real-world impact. Through EMBARK, Venture Partners recruits and matches experienced entrepreneurs with promising CU innovations, forming new startups that advance these technologies beyond the lab. The program provides business mentorship, market validation support, and access to early-stage funding to accelerate commercialization success.

De-Risk Your Technology

Secure non-dilutive translational research and commercialization funding. These funds help bridge the gap between academic research and market-ready products by supporting prototype development, validation, and scalability. Venture Partners offers several internal and external funding opportunities, such as the Lab Venture Challenge and other proof-of-concept programs, to help demonstrate your technology’s commercial potential.

Federal Translational and Commercialization Funding:

SBIR/STTR. SBIR/STTR Commercialization Grant Programs (Rolling Application Deadline). Through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, America’s Seed Fund awards non-dilutive funding to develop your technology and chart a path toward commercialization. Participating Agencies: NSF, DOE, USDA, DOD, NASA, EPA, DOT, DHS, HHS, Department of Education, and Department of Commerce. Phase I: $50,000-275,000; Phase II: $750,000-$1.8M.
NSF TTP-E. NSF Translation to Practice-Explore (TTP-E) (Rolling Application Deadline) ($600,000) The NSF TTP-E track provides the opportunity to obtain an extension of the initial award period of a current NSF award for up to two years in order to offer investigators an opportunity to explore adventurous, high-risk, use-inspired research and initial translational activities as the starting point for translation that was not covered by the original research award.
NSF TTP-T. NSF Translation to Practice-Translate (TTP-T) (September 16, 2025) ($1,200,000). The NSF TTP-T track starts with use-inspired research and initial translational activities and further matures the idea(s), iterates and improves the solution(s), and lowers the barrier(s) to effective translation of research from lab to practice.
NSF TTP-P. NSF Translation to Practice-Partner (TTP-P) (September 16, 2025) ($2,000,000). The NSF TTP-P track supports translational efforts that demand one or more partnerships for technology development and deployment. The NSF TTP-P track requires an NSF-Catalyzed Partnership with an organization that will assist in the translation to practice. In addition to the Principal Investigator (PI), NSF TTP-P proposals must include a co-PI or Senior/Key Personnel who is a member or employee of the NSF-Catalyzed Partner.
DOE America-Made Challenges. Department of Energy America-Made Challenges (Deadlines Vary). Browse more than 100 American-Made Challenges to find prize, competition, or voucher details—including how to join to bring bold new possibilities and energy solutions to light. American-Made's open challenges represent active opportunities to ignite innovation, unleash curiosity, and explore the extraordinary with some of the brightest minds working in science, technology, and industry.

CU Boulder Programs:

Lab Venture Challenge. Through LVC, top faculty, graduate student, and postdoc innovators from the University of Colorado Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs compete for grants of up to $125,000. LVC supports projects that address a commercial need, have a clear path to a compelling market and have strong scientific support. These grants are funded by Venture Partners at CU Boulder and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) Advanced Industries Program.
CatalyzeCU. Catalyze CU is a summer-long startup accelerator program designed for CU Boulder ventures created by students, faculty and staff. It combines world class mentorship, funding and a dedicated co-working space to help the most promising ventures from across campus reach escape velocity—without taking any equity.
New Venture Challenge. The New Venture Challenge (NVC) connects the CU Boulder campus with the Boulder community to develop and fund innovative ideas. Participants attend year-round events, network and collaborate with mentors to refine their ideas and form startup teams to pitch for funding.

Startup Fellowships & Accelerators:

Activate Fellowship. A two-year program that helps scientists and engineers transition to founders by providing funding, mentorship, training, and a community to bring hard-tech innovations to market, all with no equity taken.
Westgate Embedded Lab Accelerator. Offered by NREL under the DOE’s Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP), West Gate embeds innovators in lab settings for up to two years, pairing them with scientists and providing funding, technical support, and training to de-risk and scale core technologies.
Chevron Studio. Chevron Studio matches entrepreneurs with university and national lab technologies to support the commercialization of early-stage, lower-carbon innovations via technical assistance, field trials, and access to IP from those institutions.
Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator. IN2 accelerates deployment of energy and built-environment technologies by offering startups validation, pilot support, and access to NREL’s facilities and networks, helping bridge the “valley of death.”
Stanford Accelerator. A program of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability that funds and supports projects aimed at translating Stanford research into scalable technology, policy, and system solutions to urgent global sustainability challenges (e.g. food & agriculture, electricity/grid systems, greenhouse gas removal, water, etc.). Beyond grant funding, it provides coaching, resources, networking, and cross-disciplinary support to help projects scale with impact, speed, and equity in mind.
Innosphere. A regional incubator based in Colorado, Innosphere offers incubation, lab and office space, mentorship, commercialization training, and access to investor networks to help science- and technology-based startups grow.

Need help with translational research proposals?

The Center for Translational Research (CTR) is a campus-wide resource for both existing and aspiring university-originated startups seeking non-dilutive funding—including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards—to translate their university inventions into a startup company. It provides support to university faculty, researchers and staff as well as non-university employees of startups utilizing university technology.

Develop Partnerships

Build relationships, secure additional funding, and scale. Strategic partnerships with industry, investors, and government agencies can accelerate the development and deployment of your innovation. Venture Partners and CU Boulder’s extensive network can help connect you to collaborators, pilot opportunities, and follow-on funding to bring your technology to real-world impact.

ASCENT Deep Tech Accelerator. The Ascent Deep Tech Community Showcase brings together researchers, investors and community supporters to highlight innovative deep tech startups spinning out of the University of Colorado. Attendees will have a chance to see pitches from each of the Ascent 2025 cohort startups, followed by a networking happy hour to learn more.
Buff Gold Ventures. Buff Gold Ventures is a venture capital firm that supports University of Colorado entrepreneurs to create transformative companies. Buff Gold Ventures provide Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A capital, follow-on capital and assist with syndication.
Rockies Venture Club. Need info.
Destination Startup. Destination Startup brings groundbreaking startups built on novel discoveries from top national labs and universities together with investors from throughout North America to catalyze real-world impact. This showcase demonstrates a powerful way to invest in and get funding for innovative research and translate it into impactful business ventures.