About
University of North Texas (UNT) is a leading research university that is nationally and internationally recognized for its scholarship in all fields.
The Division of Research and Innovation (DRI) works with the Institutes of Research Excellence to bring together a critical mass of knowledge and faculty collaborating on projects designed to create a stronger platform for interdisciplinary research and partnerships with industry to create solutions and further contribute to the North Texas region’s economic growth.
The challenge
One of the primary responsibilities of UNT’s Division of Research and Innovation is to lead the development and implementation of strategies and services in collaboration with the Office of the Provost and other vice-presidential areas. These initiatives are aimed at transforming and expanding UNT’s research enterprise, fostering innovation and growth across various academic disciplines.
However, without direct feedback from industry stakeholders, universities can face significant challenges in accurately assessing industry interest in their research endeavors. This lack of insight can hinder their ability to make well-informed decisions regarding the commercialization of emerging technologies.
DRI was looking for a solution that would allow them to actively cultivate partnerships and collaborations with an engaged network of industry professionals and decision-makers.
The solution
Our cutting-edge match making platform, Inpart Connect, forms the foundation of a thriving network, uniting over 6,500 academic organizations, biotechs, pharma companies and investors. Inpart Connect empowers research institutes to commercialize their scientific endeavors by enhancing their visibility, accelerating partner discovery, and providing valuable strategic insights.
Inpart Connect is an intelligent user-friendly platform that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP), smart matchmaking algorithms and supervised machine learning to match technologies based on predefined needs and requirements. Each potential match is curated and handpicked by our team of in-house STEM experts.
Since 2020, the university’s DRI has been leveraging Inpart Connect to showcase their technologies to a global network of R&D professionals across disciplines.
The platform’s smart matchmaking algorithm and team of STEM experts have been instrumental in addressing DRI’s need for industry feedback by leading proactive outreach and enhancing the visibility of their technology portfolio.
Inpart’s dedicated account managers provide ongoing support, assisting with technology uploads and ensuring alignment with best practices. UNT also benefits from an integrated portal on their website, linking back to their technologies on Inpart, and receives biannual Impact Reports in addition to the real-time data insights directly accessible via the platform. Impact Reports provide detailed analyses of key performance indicators (KPIs), encompassing industry feedback and engagement. UNT leverages these reports to gauge industry interest and inform their decision-making.
The result
The real-time insights from Inpart Connect helps DRI determine next steps when it comes to making executive decisions and optimize their technology portfolio by prioritizing which technologies they should focus on.
- 1,000+ technology views
- 39 technologies
- 14 feedback
- 22 introductions
“I find the data available within the dashboard to be the most useful. I enjoy seeing the company views and interactions for a technology over time to gauge high-level interest. I can use this in comparison to other similar technologies we have to determine the next steps we need to take to push commercialization forward. I also use the data for new technologies we have in a similar space to gauge the difficulty in garnering industry interest. At a minimum, I use the data each time we are making the next patenting decision (e.g. conversion, rejection response, annuity).”
Steven TudorExecutive Director, Office of Research & Innovation
From 2020 to 2024, UNT has posted 39 technologies on Inpart Connect, garnering over 1,000 views on their portal, 14 personalized feedback responses and 22 introductions. By monitoring the data rigorously and leveraging the consequent insights to inform their decision-making, UNT has saved thousands of dollars by halting their investment in technologies that have low commercialization potential.
“Depending on the decision point in halting the patenting process, we can see savings from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. Having the data from Inpart to reinforce our decisions also benefits the conversations with inventors at this step. It is a difficult conversation but being able to provide feedback and interaction data to our inventors shows that we are not dropping patents without reason.”
Steven TudorExecutive Director, Office of Research & Innovation
