By Jaime Wood-Riley
What does it take to grow a strong ecosystem for STEM innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) within higher education?
In early 2025, 13 teams of two, VentureWell’s inaugural Ecosystem Futures Fellowship cohort, set out to explore that question. Representing institutions across five regions of the United States, these teams are working to expand STEM I&E opportunities for students, faculty, and community members—using the unique assets and challenges of their campuses as a starting point.
Several fellowship teams are exploring how research translation and technology transfer fit within a broader institutional strategy for innovation. For some institutions, that means strengthening connections between scientific research, industry partners, and community organizations positioned to bring new discoveries into real-world use.
The Florida Atlantic University (FAU) team, for example, aims to increase entrepreneurship engagement with cross-disciplinary teams, connecting students with collaborators who can help transform early concepts into viable startups.
“We also want to translate research from the faculty lab into this ecosystem incorporating students along the way,” shared fellow Regina Thompson. The team is particularly focused on advancing projects related to water quality, sea life health and management, coastline resilience, and preservation, with an eye toward commercialing those innovations. Thompson and her fellowship partner, Dr. Kevin Cox, are leveraging a new state law that established the Office of Ocean Economy. Housed at FAU, the office is tasked with connecting the state’s ocean and coastal resources to economic development strategies that grow and strengthen Florida’s ocean economy.
This work reflects a broader truth: Building an ecosystem with a robust tech transfer pipeline is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Each institution’s path is shaped by its assets, constraints, context, and goals, and requires a systems-level approach that intentionally aligns research translation, entrepreneurship education, and regional economic priorities rather than leaving them to operate in isolation.
The team from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is approaching ecosystem development through the lens of nutrition innovation, focusing on the intersection of research, education, and community needs.
Dr. Meredith Adkins (Fayetteville) explains: “Our goal is to support students and faculty to innovate to address problems pertaining to metabolic health, climate change, and food security—grand challenges that cannot be solved by one discipline alone. Our goal is to better understand how we can enhance pathways for students to advance community-centered solutions to these wicked problems, prioritizing needs assessment, human-centered design, and community input and evaluation.”
Dr. Adkins and her fellowship partner Dr. Kimberly Haynie (Pine Bluff) are using the assets of their respective universities to strengthen the STEM I&E ecosystems across Arkansas. This work includes building a technology transfer pathway at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff using the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I3R) model, which emphasizes interdisciplinary convergence and applied innovation.
But commercialization is not the sole measure of success. The Arkansas team’s approach emphasizes building pathways that support community-centered innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and sustained regional impact.
Building an ecosystem with a robust tech transfer pipeline is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor.
Practical tools play a role in making that vision actionable. VentureWell’s Ecosystem Futures Fellowship supports institutional teams through a combination of immersive experiences, peer learning, and resources. Workshops grounded in VentureWell’s strategic communication toolkit equip fellows to engage a wide range of potential collaborators, from university administrators and government officials to industry partners and entrepreneurship support organizations.
Similarly, the fellowship’s action plan template guides teams through goal creation, task mapping, role definitions, and budget justification so they are ready to seek future funding and articulate their objectives to diverse audiences. Together, these interventions help fellows navigate complex institutional environments with greater clarity and confidence.
By strengthening communication, aligning stakeholders, and grounding action plans in evidence and community input, teams are better positioned to advance research translation and innovation efforts that are sustainable, inclusive, and responsive to regional needs.
Insights from the Ecosystem Futures Fellowship continue to inform how VentureWell supports higher education institutions working to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems. By learning alongside fellows as they examine strategy, partnerships, and institutional structures, VentureWell is refining how it helps campuses advance research translation, build sustainable pathways, and generate impact that extends beyond individual projects or funding cycles.
Jaime Wood-Riley is senior program officer at VentureWell, working on the higher education innovation ecosystems team.