NC A&T, UNCG Partner in Technology Initiative GREENSBORO, N.C.
Entrepreneurs in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina have a technology resource center available to them as a result of a partnership between North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
The Tech Transfer Outreach Initiative was formally announced by North Carolina A&T Chancellor Dr. James C. Renick and UNCG Chancellor Dr. Patricia A. Sullivan on June 26. The initiative is funded at $165,000 annually for each of the next three years by Action Greensboro, a nonprofit association committed to economic and civic development.
Under the agreement, the two universities will locate an Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization at the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship in Greensboro, which already has close ties with historically Black North Carolina A&T. From that office, the schools will provide support services for entrepreneurship, small-business development, technology transfer and women and minority outreach.
“This initiative will facilitate the continued collaboration between two very strong institutions with acknowledged differences, yet shared goals,” Renick says. “By working together and tapping our expertise at all levels, we can enhance our involvement in shaping the face of the Triad’s changing economic climate.”
UNCG’s Sullivan says collaboration will lead to positive change for both universities and the Triad as a whole. The Triad is made up of the cities of Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem.
“We are beginning a partnership that will enable both institutions to work together for the benefit of the city’s economy,” Sullivan says. “Our universities must become more fully engaged in the economy of the city and the region for our community to flourish. This partnership agreement is a solid step in that direction.”
“Action Greensboro is pursuing a number of strategies to enhance the environment for small business development and entrepreneurship,” says Lee Lloyd, co-chair of Action Greensboro’s Small Business Development and Entrepreneurship Task Force. “In this regard, we feel that actively engaging and facilitating the collaboration of the city’s largest academic institutions, both with active research agendas, will result in more commercialization of local proprietary technology.”
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