Innovation

Carolina is a place where innovators and entrepreneurs thrive. It's a place where you can make a positive difference by putting your ideas to use for the public good.

Innovate for all

Carolina innovators are helping to solve 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, combatting diseases, fighting poverty, eliminating hunger, providing clean water and promoting social justice.

Innovate Carolina is a cross-campus alliance of people and programs that helps UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty and alumni turn their ideas into innovations that improve how people work and live. Led by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, Innovate Carolina ensures that people at UNC-Chapel Hill have the knowledge, tools and resources they need to put their ideas into action.

Now it’s time to take the next step on your own innovation journey. Get involved in the Innovate Carolina Network and learn how you can:

Take a course in innovation and entrepreneurship.
Get funding to advance a novel idea.
Start a venture, whether commercial or non-profit in nature.
Find a workspace, such as an incubator, makerspace or lab.
Explore competitions and gain recognition for your innovation.
Commercialize research and bring inventions, discoveries and technologies to market.

26entrepreneurship-focused undergraduate courses
521Carolina-affiliated startup ventures created since 1958
$10 billionin annual revenue earned by UNC-Chapel Hill startups in 2016
256startup companies founded by students and alumni as of June 30, 2017
75startup companies created at Launch Chapel Hill accelerator since 2013
70,225jobs created by Carolina startups as of December 2016
90,000+lives improved by social ventures launched by students since 2013

Innovation at Carolina

Nurturing entrepreneurs
Carolina entrepreneurs and innovators are helping to solve some of the world’s biggest problems.
Student startup aims to save lives
Watchdog Medical, a startup formed by five Carolina biomedical engineering students, represented the University at the annual ACC InVenture Prize competition. The team has developed a device that could help save the lives of premature infants.
Supporting a University startup
Innovate Carolina, a comprehensive network of programs, helps UNC-Chapel Hill faculty, students and alumni turn their ideas into market-ready innovations.