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Inventive Activity

FY 2023

Record Year for Invention, Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University

Download Full Report 2023

Fiscal Year 2023

Inventive Activity Report

Northwestern University's inventive activity reached its highest peaks yet in 2023, with 255 disclosures among our many successes. As INVO strives to strengthen entrepreneurial activity by both students and faculty and build a self-sustained community that will generate innovations to benefit society, we make our past reports and current metrics available so that others might gain a better sense for the inventive activity taking place at Northwestern University. View full report

Celebrating a Year of Innovative Growth at INVO

Innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) is one of the most visible ways our faculty, students, researchers, and alumni demonstrate Northwestern’s impact on the world. Woven into every part of campus, I&E has become an unmistakable component of our University’s identity.  The Innovation and New Ventures Office is proud to play a central role — home to the technology transfer operations for the University and two thriving hubs for entrepreneurship. 

Jaehyuk Choi Daring to Dream in Fight Against Cancer

Ask Jaehyuk Choi about his research goals and he shares an admittedly audacious two-word reply: “Cure cancer.” But Choi believes cures are within reach, particularly by shifting immunology from a philosophical problem — “Figuring out a code,” Choi calls it — to an engineering problem.

NUMAT Taking Innovation From Lab to Market

In 2012, Benjamin Hernandez was a JD/MBA student at Northwestern University with grand visions of launching his own company. It was then Hernandez encountered a chemical engineering PhD student named Chris Wilmer. The rest is history.

2023 Year in Review

151
Patents Issued
255
Inventions Disclosed
8.7 Million
Licensing Revenue Dollars
257
Agreements Executed
10
Startups with Northwestern IP
618
Patent Applications

Arjan Quist: The Commercialization Advocate

Frequently an aspiring entrepreneur’s first point of contact with INVO, Arjan Quist provides an earnest, unfettered look at the commercialization journey ahead. He outlines the translational process and provides candid perspective on a long, often strenuous adventure – albeit one in which he and his INVO colleagues assist.

Creating Foundation for Transformative Enterprise

In 2012, a team of six business and engineering graduate students enrolled in NUvention: Energy and began investigating potential clean tech ventures. The group quickly focused its attention on the work of a Northwestern Engineering professor who was developing a battery anode technology to maximize energy density and enable longer device run times.

Inventions by School

137
Feinberg School of Medicine
96
McCormick School of Engineering
56
Weinberg School of Arts & Sciences
30
Other Schools and Units

Learning What Works to Optimize Youth Programming

Possessing an undeniable entrepreneurial spirit, Nichole Pinkard is an education researcher looking to maximize impact. Building learning systems to scale has been a longstanding personal mission for Pinkard, something she traces back to her days as a Northwestern doctoral student.

Sonia Kim: The Entrepreneurial Bridge Builder

For many academic researchers, the gulf between a lab discovery and a product hitting the public’s hands appears vast, even insurmountable. After all, the intricacies of the entrepreneur’s journey are often viewed as foreign and daunting. Northwestern innovators, however, have a capable ally in Sonia Kim.

Scott Working to Impact Patients on a Larger Scale

Once a pre-med biomedical engineering undergraduate with clinical ambitions, Evan Scott became intrigued by the potential of basic science to help larger populations lead healthier lives — so much so he shifted his postgraduate plans from medical school to translational research.

Unlocking Doors to Entrepreneurial Opportunity

In John Kim’s novel innovation, Alexei Mlodinow saw an opportunity to apply his entrepreneurial instincts to a dynamic product category, help breast cancer patients, and create value. He teamed with Kim and Todd Cruikshank to launch SIA and push the technology to market.

FoundHer Takes on Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship

In 2022, Pitchbook found that venture capital funds given to women-founded startups made up just 1.9% of the total; women of color received 0.05% and less. The InQbation Lab’s FoundHer program seeks to change this narrative.