Innovate - Office of Research

From Ingenuity to Impact

About UCF Innovate

UCF Innovate is the catalyst that transforms the university’s ideas, talent, and partnerships into real-world impact, by creating a seamless pathway from discovery to market. We empower creators, researchers, and founders to build solutions that strengthen our nation, elevate communities, and shape the future of innovation. UCF Innovate is comprised of five university departments: Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, the Office of Technology Transfer, NSF Innovation Corps^TM, UCF Ventures, and the Business Incubation Program.

UCF Innovate supports the university’s goals and priorities by:

Goal 1

Cultivating a culture of entrepreneurship by providing education, mentorship, and coaching to undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty.

Goal 2

Accelerating the commercialization of UCF innovations by transforming ideas into breakthroughs and advancing them into the marketplace.

Goal 3

Advancing regional and economic growth through startup-company formation, job creation, and innovation ecosystem expansion.

Services

Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership

Serving UCF students pursuing entrepreneurial education and ventures based on non-university intellectual property.

Attend an upcoming event

Office of Technology Transfer

Serving UCF researchers (faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students) who developed intellectual property (IP) by providing IP protection, marketing, and licensing services and connections with industry to transform innovative ideas into successful products.

NSF I-Corps^TM Hub

Serving researchers in the region interested in entrepreneurial education and mentoring, with the goal of moving fundamental research from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Apply for a cohort

UCF Ventures

Serving UCF researchers who developed university IP and who are seeking commercialization strategy, entrepreneur support, startup training, and personalized business coaching.

Contact an Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Business Incubation Program

Serving UCF affiliated and non-affiliated early-stage businesses based in Central Florida seeking business development and operational support.

Apply to the Business Incubation Program

FY23-FY25

1000+

Students Coached

185

U.S Patents Issued

89

Licenses and Options Executed

14

Startups Launched by Tech Licensing

$880K

in Research Translation Funding

43

I-Corps Teams

87

Ventures Clients Coached

Partners

News

Science & Technology

UCF Researcher Creates Improved Method to Harvest Hydrogen Energy

Associate Professor Yang Yang has developed a renewable “thin-film” catalyst that uses microscopic patterns for cleaner, more affordable chemical manufacturing and fabrication.

Alumni

Forbes Honors UCF Entrepreneurs on 30 Under 30 List

The engineering alumni behind Orlando-based startup companies Soarce and Capacitech are capturing attention with their innovative technologies in the green energy and manufacturing industries.

Alumni

UCF Alum Offers Innovative Solutions for Classroom Struggles

Pairing her elementary education degree with the entrepreneurship skills she acquired at UCF, Kelly Shea ’23 is a business owner passionate about inspiring young inventors.