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INNOVATION AND
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Carolina is a place where innovators and entrepreneurs make a human, social and economic impact. We make purposeful transformations in the world by putting important ideas to use for the public good.

In the heart of an innovation district

At Carolina, innovation happens at the intersection of campus and community. Just a few steps from our classrooms and labs, you find yourself in downtown Chapel Hill’s quickly emerging innovation district. This is where promising startups, innovation-oriented companies and impact-driven non-profits come to grow and converge with talented students and faculty. It’s a place where local entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and top researchers coalesce to find inventive ways to work together. New markets emerge, careers expand and businesses thrive. In Chapel Hill, college town means entrepreneurial epicenter.

A hub for your innovation and impact

Carolina innovators are solving some of the world’s biggest problems. Through their ingenuity, they provide economic and social value in North Carolina and beyond: creating jobs, finding cures, combating diseases, fighting poverty, eliminating hunger, providing clean water and promoting social justice.

Innovate Carolina is the University-wide initiative for innovation and entrepreneurship that provides a full-scale innovation hub for today’s impact-driven problem solvers. By visiting the Innovate Carolina Junction, an innovation hub and coworking space in the heart of downtown Chapel Hill, you can connect with an active entrepreneurial network. Tap into services and resources designed for students, faculty, alumni and people in local communities who want to launch startup companies, take new research discoveries to market and move important initiatives into the world.

QUVI founders Kush Jain (right) and Harshul Makwana (left) working on their initial water bottle sanitation prototype for the UNC Makeathon.

Wherever you are on your innovation journey, Innovate Carolina provides the entrepreneurial tools and know-how to help your ideas thrive.

Explore our campus- and community-based resource directory. And connect with our innovation hub to take advantage of services that can help you take your impact-driven ideas further, faster:

 

A person uses a 3D printer.
  • 1,079total Carolina-affiliated startups launched
  • $19.8 billionin total funding raised by Carolina startups
  • $19.2 billionin annual revenue earned by UNC-Chapel Hill startups (2023-24)
  • No. 17in entrepreneurship education (U.S. News and World Report, 2024)
  • 1,366U.S. patents issued to Carolina inventors
  • 478Carolina-affiliated startups headquartered in North Carolina
  • 15,789people employed by UNC-Chapel Hill startups across North Carolina

Innovation and economic development for Carolina communities

Tar Heels don’t rest idly on campus. We’re busy making our communities better places to work and live. Our passion for innovation and economic impact is reflected in our ongoing collaboration with the Town of Chapel Hill and other academic, government and industry partners across the region and state. Together, we’re accelerating local economic vibrancy, expanding career opportunities for students, and broadening the opportunities for businesses and other community organizations across Chapel Hill and beyond. Explore Innovate Carolina’s impact dashboard to discover how the University is working with people on our campus and in our communities to: • Launch ventures to create human and economic impact • Move research and discoveries to market • Apply entrepreneurial tools and methods to make novel ideas work

EXPLORE INNOVATE CAROLINA IMPACT DASHBOARD