Innovation Central

Credit: Marsha Miller

Universities and their scientists produce the research-based seeds that grow a million important ideas. This leads to jobs, services and products in the larger world. As Nobel Laureate Jerome Isaac Friedman put it, “Innovation is the key to the future, but basic research is the key to future innovation.”

Sometimes these research kernels can translate quickly into applications for the wider world – and when that happens, the new Texas Innovation Center is there to help. It exists to support students and faculty at The University of Texas at Austin in bringing science- and engineering-based discoveries and technologies to market.

As a collaboration between the Cockrell School of Engineering and the College of Natural Sciences, the center provides everything from workshops and resources to assistance with making important connections. This way, start-ups and individuals at the university have a bridge to potential customers, investors, mentors and others who can support the translation of university research into the wider world. The center’s team has been racking up awards – named to the Austin Chamber of Commerce and SXSW A-LIST and winning prize recognition from the Austin Business Journal – as well as coordinating closely with campus student-focused initiatives like the UT Austin Inventors’ Program.

The results speak for themselves. Computer science professor Keshav Pingali joined with fellow faculty member Chris Rossbach in 2020 to co-found Katana Graph, a startup specializing in a type of computing that draws insights from unstructured data, which, these days, companies have in abundance. Katana Graph, in its first year, raised millions of dollars and even partnered with Intel. Pingali pointed to support from the center and UT as key to the startup’s success. “Everywhere wants to be the next Silicon Valley,” he said, “but putting that sort of desire into action, into something that actually makes things happen, not many places can do it.”