Inside the James B. Hunt Jr. Library on NC State's Centennial Campus.

NC State ranks fourth nationally for share of industry-sponsored research. How does NC State work alongside industry, government and nonprofit partners to generate economic benefit? And how are global companies partnering with universities to innovate for the future?

These and other topics will be explored at the University Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP) Conference April 1–4 at the StateView Hotel and Conference Center on Centennial Campus. Hosted by NC State, with presenting partners Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill and RTI International, UIDP28 will unwrap strategies for improving collaboration between academia, industry and government, and how these partnerships are shaping the future on a global scale.

UIDP is a national membership organization addressing issues impacting academic-corporate collaboration, providing a forum to find better ways to partner. Previous hosts of the conference include University of Chicago, Georgia Tech, Michigan State and Princeton. NC State was selected to host UIDP28 based on the university’s leadership in public-private partnerships and economic impact across the Triangle region and North Carolina.

Conference highlights include:

• Opening remarks from Chancellor Woodson.
• Keynote presentation from IBM on the future of quantum computing, highlighting the IBM Q Hub at NC State.
• Panel discussions on universities as catalysts of regional entrepreneurship ecosystems, featuring NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and RTI International; and the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative – the world-class research building opening 2021 on Centennial Campus that will address critical agricultural issues through partnerships between academia, industry and government – featuring NC State, the Golden LEAF Foundation and Novozymes.
• Breakout sessions featuring a partnership case study between the University of Oxford and biotech company Calgene; and overcoming challenges and streamlining systems for successful academic-corporate collaborations, featuring Cornell University.
• Workshop featuring Princeton University and the Council on Government Relations exploring intellectual property rights and U.S. copyright and patent laws in government-industry-university projects.
• A guided tour of NC State’s Centennial Campus, Hunt Library, Wilson College of Textiles and Nonwovens Institute, and the Lake Wheeler Road Field Laboratory. Attendees will also get a chance to sample Howling Cow ice cream.

NC State is actively collaborating with nearly 200 corporate, government and nonprofit partners, with more than 70 co-located on its Centennial Campus. Consistently ranking among the top 10 in the nation for technology transfer, in the last 5 years, NC State has received more than 1,000 new invention disclosures, executed over 750 commercialization agreements, issued over 320 patents, and helped facilitate the launch of 135 startup companies who add $1.2 billion annually to N.C.’s economy.

For more information about UIDP28 and to register, visit https://www.uidp.org/event/uidp28/.