Mission:
To pair solution-oriented research with real-world needs for the enrichment of society through the protection, acceleration, and commercialization of Northeastern innovation.
What We Do
Safeguarding Northeastern ingenuity is a fundamental responsibility of the Center for Research Innovation. The CRI proactively identifies world-changing innovation within Northeastern’s labs and protects it through robust, strong, defensible, and commercially viable patents.
How can the CRI help grow your spinout?
The Center for Research Innovation staff knows business: we’ve started, grown and helped companies innovate. We are here to help your high-impact innovations succeed in the marketplace. Ask us about introductions to investors, channel partners, joint venture candidates and strategic partners.
Do you need to contact a company or identify current industry needs?
If your research or inventions could have relevance to industry, the CRI can introduce you to actively interested companies. If you are contemplating a line of research and would like to gauge industry reaction, we can help you secure feedback to inform the thrust of your research. Contact Joel Bresler for more details.
With a focus on connectivity, the CRI’s signature programs stimulate industry partnerships, promote innovative education, and catalyze technological development. These programs bring together industry professionals and academic researchers so that Northeastern’s use-inspired solutions become a reality. Learn more about our high-caliber programming here.
The CRI supports Northeastern’s Vision of Diversity and mindfully cultivates a culture of diversity and inclusion by ensuring that CRI resources and services are made available to all and are delivered by team members committed to equity: no matter one’s gender, color, race, religion, national origin, or socio-economic status.
Vibrant innovation and flourishing communities thrive through diversity, and the CRI diligently seeks ways to increase the scope of representation as we strive to improve the wellbeing of local and global communities through the commercialization of Northeastern technologies.
Who We Are
The CRI team is agile and responsive – focused on the translation of University innovations into tangible solutions through licenses, spinouts and collaborations. Our dedication to establishing ongoing dialogue with industry informs Northeastern’s progressive research, enabling a productive balance between exploration and implementation.
Innovation Ecosystem
Northeastern University’s innovation ecosystem is a combination of cross-disciplinary collaboration and an entrepreneurial culture that is driven by a commitment to use-inspired research.
IDEA
IDEA is a student-run venture accelerator that provides a variety of resources to Northeastern affiliated entrepreneurs who are looking to launch their own businesses. Throughout the stage-gate process we provide ventures with coaching, mentoring, in-kind services, business planning framework, and the opportunity to apply for our Gap Fund.
The Entrepreneurs Club
The Entrepreneurs Club brings together students from diverse majors to build meaningful relationships and companies. The club provides tremendous opportunities to learn outside of the classroom through real-world application.
The Club’s mantra is to “Live Your Passion!,” which means that we foster a culture where members are encouraged to seek out what they enjoy the most, and explore ways to turn their passions into ventures. Whether a member wants to start a non-profit, be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a veterinarian, everyone is welcome and can explore the diverse paths towards becoming an entrepreneur.
The Center for Entrepreneurship Education
The Center for Entrepreneurship Education is a university-wide resource that integrates entrepreneurship and innovation courses, entrepreneurial co-ops in early stage companies, venture incubation through our on-campus venture accelerator, IDEA, and venture funding and launch by helping our entrepreneurs network into the local angel and VC community. We serve undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and alumni from every college in the university.
The Sherman Center
The Sherman Center’s mission is to enable interdisciplinary student entrepreneurship in the broadest sense by providing education on tools, concepts, and resources to foster creativity and the ability to develop commercially viable ideas.
Opening May 2014, the program’s curriculum is designed to arm engineering students with the appropriate entrepreneurial skills to successfully pitch and commercialize their innovations. Workshops and courses will be led by Northeastern faculty and innovators from industry.
The center complements Northeastern’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurship on campus and will work closely with faculty in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business and IDEA, Northeastern’s student-run venture accelerator.
Scout
Scout is Northeastern University’s student-led design studio.
We are makers. Creative problem solvers who use design thinking to build groundbreaking experiences for our clients, our team, and the Northeastern community.
The Social Enterprise Institute
The Social Enterprise Institute (SEI) is grounded in the belief that business can be a powerful development tool by utilizing enterprise-based solutions to solve some of the world’s most pressing social problems. The SEI is a resource center housed in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business that empowers students to be socially motivated, global business leaders.
Venture Mentoring Network
The Daniel J. McCarthy(s) Venture Mentoring Network was established by the generosity of Professor Daniel McCarthy and Jeff McCarthy, DMSB’77. It is a university-wide network that pairs qualified, experienced mentors with Northeastern ventures to solve business problems and guide them on successful paths.
The Northeastern University Center for Family Business
The Northeastern University Center for Family Business is a membership organization that provides education, networking opportunities, and support to business families. The Center for Family Business helps business families identify and avoid potential pitfalls, solve complex interpersonal and family business issues, and plan for future family business success in an ever changing and increasingly more competitive environment.
The Graduate Entrepreneurship Club
The Graduate Entrepreneurship Club (GEC) is committed to finding Northeastern students with a passion for entrepreneurship and helping them nurture their ideas into a reality. We understand the difficulty in knowing where to begin and who to talk to. GEC will continue expanding its network in order to be a resource to all graduate students at Northeastern. We work closely with other organizations and help to act as a funnel to make sure every student is guided on the correct path to success.
The Global Resilience Institute
The Global Resilience Institute is committed to informing and advancing societal resilience around the world. Individuals, communities, nations, and the systems they depend upon, can thrive only if they have the means to better withstand, recover from and adapt to the inevitable shocks and disruptive events of the 21st century. Our university-wide Institute is partnering with other leading academic research institutions, nonprofits and the public and private sectors to devise and apply practical, interdisciplinary innovations and solutions to resilience challenges.
The IP Co-Lab
The IP Co-Lab requires students to devote twenty hours per week to providing IP-related legal services to students, ventures and other participants in the university’s entrepreneurship and innovation eco-system under the supervision of clinical faculty and staff. The clinic includes opportunities to address issues related to IP rights, risks and transactions for individuals and ventures in the university community, to collaborate with faculty and others on IP learning modules, policies, presentations or workshops for this community, to develop practice skills, or to participate in operation of a legal services office. Enrollment is limited; preference given to students with other relevant courses or practical experience.
Origin
Origin creates an environment where motivated people from the Northeastern community can access the invaluable resources of Northeastern’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. By enrolling in the NSF I-Corps program or directly acquiring Alpha Funding, Origin ventures will gain an in-depth understanding of the complex processes behind building a company from the prototyping stage to pitching for seed funding. We provide our ventures with the tools needed to address worldly issues in innovative and creative ways. Ultimately, through their experiences in the entrepreneurial process, teams will be equipped with a sense confidence in their ability to make their vision a reality and take the next steps towards commercialization.
The Health Sciences Entrepreneurs
The Health Sciences Entrepreneurs is a group of alumni dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship in the rapidly evolving world of health care. The group, hosting events for alumni and students since 2005, has recently launched a mentoring program. To learn more about mentoring opportunities, follow the link on this site.
The George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security
The George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security offers a unique, results-driven partnership solve important security, intelligence and resilience needs.
Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative
In partnership with Women Who Empower, the Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative (WEI) functions as a structured and rigorous platform to mobilize Northeastern’s network of female founders and funders, active and aspiring to provide long-term leadership and access to capital, networks and resources across the globe. Join the network by filling out this form. Betsy Ludwig, executive director, women’s entrepreneurship can be reached at b.ludwig@northeastern.edu for further information.