At the Innovation Office, we would like to get in touch with you if you have an idea and are interested in evaluating its potential, regardless of which field of science you operate in and which path you then choose to take.
Umeå University is a place where ideas grow through research and innovations that improve the world. However, all innovation journeys look different, whether your idea is new or based on years of research.
What support do you need? Together we can pinpoint which process is suitable. Some examples of what you can get help with follow:
Innovation consulting and business development
Do you want to take your idea to the next level? The Innovation Office offers tailor-made processes and guides you to experienced business developers who support the development of your idea forwards. The goal is for your idea to be used in society while you learn and gain new experiences.
Financing of innovation development
Are other competencies required to develop your idea to make it useful? The Innovation Office can help you apply for funding to hire experts in a variety of areas (e.g. intellectual property, legal, compliance, technical validation, customer needs or market overviews) who can help move your idea forwards. All applications are made together with an experienced business developer.
Networks and infrastructure
Do you need infrastructure to develop prototypes? Do you want to concentrate on utilising an idea and need a physical place for it? Do you need contacts for early-stage financing? The Innovation Office can help solve certain things. The same applies if you have needs relating to different contacts with specialist expertise, innovation support and collaboration partners in different areas, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Advice on protecting ideas and research results
The Innovation Office can support you in identifying intellectual assets in your research project. You can get help developing a strategy for how the research results can be utilised to reach their full potential.
Your research result may need to be protected to reach its full potential, to either commercialise it or give it a chance to make a real difference.
There are different forms of protection, such as copyright, trade secrets and trademarks. Technical solutions are protected with patents while product constructions are protected by designs. We support you in deciding the best path for the result that has come out of your research.
Support with formulating certain types of agreements
During various stages of the innovation process, appropriate agreements become relevant, often forming the basis for your research results being used in the way you intended. We will advise you on contractual issues when your research leads to a result and you want to start a company or collaborate with external parties, such as companies, the government, municipalities or regions.
Doctoral courses and seminars
We are happy to visit your department or unit to inform you about utilisation, innovation and how the university-related support system works. Welcome to invite us to, for example, workplace meetings, department days, graduate schools or other types of occasions. We also provide support and information to individual researchers or research groups and are open to dialogue about appropriate occasions and arrangements.
Do you need support with parts related to innovation and entrepreneurship on courses or programmes? For example, we can give guest lectures or recommend other lecturers, assess students' work, participate in panels or give part of a course ourselves. The same applies to elements of doctoral courses.
Are you a doctoral student interested in innovation, utilisation and commercialisation? The Faculty of Science and Technology offers a doctoral course in collaboration with us at the Innovation Office. The course is open to doctoral students at all faculties, is given every other year and offers you the opportunity to work on the utilisation of your own research results.
How we support your innovation journey
The University encourages you to find new ways to convey knowledge and create social benefits. The Innovation Office creates conditions for researchers and students to utilise knowledge, results and ideas. Therefore, as an employee you have access to free advice and practical support through us.
The Innovation Office collaborates with the University's wholly-owned commercialisation company Umeå Universitet Holding. Together we are the first stop on the innovation journey. We support you by methodically investigating and developing ideas with high knowledge content that are often research based. When your idea is ready for the next phase, we will connect you with the actor who can support the development further in the best way.
Together we bring good ideas from Umeå to the rest of the world.
Read more about the Innovation Office
Read more about Umeå Universitet Holding