At USU, we’re committed to helping build meaningful collaborations that expand research opportunities, strengthen funding prospects, and increase real-world impact. Our External Research Partnerships team is here to help connect faculty, industry, nonprofit, and other external organizations in alignment with research goals. We can facilitate introductions, identify potential collaborators, and help navigate partnership opportunities that leverage USU’s expertise, technologies, and facilities. Whether you have a big idea or just want to explore possibilities, we’re excited to help you get started.
Building Together Series
The Office of Research's Building Together series creates a fast-paced forum where real-world experience meets bold ideas. Building Together helps faculty engage with industry partners, fostering collaborations that turn ideas into real-world solutions to drive progress and impact.
Industry Engagement Seed Grant
The Office of Research’s Industry Engagement Seed Grant supports USU faculty in building new relationships with industry partners that can lead to future sponsored research and collaboration.
Resources
Market Research & Commercialization Guide
Learn how to evaluate market opportunities, understand competitors, validate customer needs, and develop effective commercialization strategies. This guide provides practical resources to help researchers strengthen funding proposals and advance innovations toward licensing, startup formation, and societal impact.
Halo
Halo makes it easier for scientists and companies to identify mutual interests and opportunities to collaborate. For scientists, Halo helps them uncover new applications for their work, find alternative sources of funding, and identify industry partners to advance their research. For companies, Halo empowers them to discover new technologies, develop relationships with the scientists behind them, and fill their innovation pipelines.
Halo is free to use for researchers.
FirstIgnite
FirstIgnite is an AI-powered platform that bridges the gap between scientific research and commercial markets. It can be used to simplify and translate complex scientific research into concise summaries that highlight industry-relevant advantages, identify unexpected commercial sectors or alternate fields applicable to a scientific discovery, and compile a targeted list of private sector organizations aligned with specific research outputs.
Access to FirstIgnite is through an External Research Partnerships or Technology Transfer team member.
Nucleus
Nucleus brings together industry, academia, and government to drive economic growth in Utah and tackle its biggest challenges. Nucleus offers an evolving menu of programs that support research translation and commercialization, including the Connections Hub for helping researchers find industry partners, MarketEdge for commercialization and startup development, and expert assistance with SBIR/STTR funding opportunities.
The External Research Partnerships team has established relationships with Nucleus staff and can assist in matching researchers to the appropriate Nucleus program.