Departments & Centers
Industrial Cooperation
The Department of Industrial Cooperation arranges all fee-for-service work and industry-sponsored collaborative research, matching companies with the appropriate UMaine expertise and facilities.
We help UMaine achieve its goals of research and public service, while avoiding conflicts of interest with the private sector and ensuring that the university is compensated for private use of its state-supported resources. We provide professional and responsive support in the form of contract review, drafting, negotiations, contract execution, and project management. The office strives to streamline research agreement negotiations and management. We also handle any related non-funded agreements needed for each project – confidentiality agreements, material transfer agreements, etc.
Commercialization & Business Development
The Office of Innovation and Economic Development (OIED) at UMaine serves as the primary link between the university and commercial interests. UMaine’s rapidly growing research base has fueled over 150 patents and patent applications from the work of faculty, staff, and students. OIED works to commercialize these results through collaborative research and licensing of intellectual property to companies.
Current licenses, license options and license negotiations include technologies in the areas of cellulose nanomaterials and production, energy storage, carbon nanomaterials, biomaterials, biomedical diagnostics and implants, composites and composite structures, chemical products, sensors, molecular imaging and software.
License terms vary by technology, but generally include license issue fees, running royalties, minimum royalties and performance milestones. A discounted royalty rate is often granted for products produced in Maine
Innovation & Startup Support
The Innovation Center provides students, faculty, staff, and community members with the knowledge, tools, and inspiration to become innovators and entrepreneurs. The center offers programs and events, such as MIRTA and StartUp Circuit, as well as access to one-on-one advising and coaching, credit courses in innovation, fun and inspirational seminars, and offices and meeting space for student companies and projects. More information is available at the Innovation Center’s website.
Through the Innovation Center, our staff provides incubation services to companies at locations across the state including the UpStart Center for Entrepreneurship in Orono, the Union River Center for Innovation in Ellsworth, UMaine’s Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research (CCAR) in Franklin and the Darling Marine Center in Walpole.