Our Impact

WHY INVEST IN INNOVATION?

Innovation economies realize higher productivity and economic gains. Many economic studies show that public-sector investment in R&D alongside business yields economic and social spillover gains of up to 33x, and those benefits are distributed more broadly.

A well-developed innovation ecosystem delivers both tangible and intangible returns. Of course, successful homegrown companies create jobs, expand the tax base, and offer capital returns on state investments. But a more sophisticated culture of applied research, innovation, and commercialization also creates more points of contact among academia, industry, and finance. Over time, this culture and activity hardens into a durable network that attracts attention, capital, and people.

These institutes are a manifestation of the uniquely American free-market approach to technological advancement…bring[ing] together the Federal Government, industry, and academia, positioning us to leverage the full power and expertise of the United States innovation ecosystem.

~Trump White House, 2020

WHY IS GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED UNIVERSITY RESEARCH IMPORTANT?

The university-to-industry pipeline has been central to American economic and technological dominance for decades. American universities incubate discoveries, and then the private sector commercializes them.

Research shows that states that invest in innovation and commercialization receive substantial tax and employment benefits. New products and companies generated from applied research create deep downstream multiplier effects (Enrico Moretti, MIT Sloan Management Review).

North Carolina is a well-recognized leader in research and development. But the outputs of that R&D base don’t measure up to its size. Companies that may have been born in North Carolina move to other states to grow in more sophisticated innovation ecosystems. Failure to nurture an innovation ecosystem deprives a state of benefits or transfers them to other states. And the same multiplier effect applies: one missed opportunity withholds the follow-on jobs and economic benefits that might be created in the future.

"Leading innovation hubs, such as Silicon Valley, New York, and Boston, have propelled the United States to become the premier global innovation destination. While these areas continue to produce and benefit from technology breakthroughs, many other regions of the nation are not as fully engaged in the country’s innovation economy.”

2022 National Commission On Innovation Report

WHAT IS NCINNOVATION’S ROLE?

NCInnovation offers grants and support services to university researchers to advance research breakthroughs to the point of commercial viability. We focus on a critical phase of the university R&D sequence known as the “valley of death” — after a concept has been proven in a lab, but before the private sector is ready to engage.

NCI’s Funding and Support

NCInnovation Fundin graphic

 

WHY DOES ANY OF THIS MATTER IN NORTH CAROLINA?

University research is the foundation of American innovation and technological dominance, and North Carolina has a world-class university system that generates applied research across the state… not just in RTP.

North Carolina’s research successes are dying on the vine in the absence of a bridge between federal grants and readiness for private venture capital. VCs do not fund proofs of concept; they fund commercially viable products, and that’s what NCI is helping regional universities to create.

The federal research funding model is evolving, paying for performance and the likelihood of commercial success… this is precisely what NCInnovation does.

Through shrewd fiscal policy, North Carolina has sufficient reserves to use an endowment model, rather than annual appropriations, to create value from the intellectual property it already owns.

Long-term recovery in Western NC will be a generational task; NCInnovation can be an enduring source of economic development. NCI is part of—not at the expense of—Western NC recovery.