University of Minnesota surpasses 300-startup milestone

A one-minute breath test device that detects lung cancer. A process to safely strip “forever chemicals” from the water supply. Hardware designed to slash AI energy consumption. These are just some of the discoveries being transformed into real-world solutions by researchers at the University of Minnesota.

The University is celebrating a major milestone, recently launching its 300th startup since 2006, with more than 140 spin-offs created since 2020. Those companies have generated more than $3.5 billion in investment capital and created over 1,500 jobs. This success has earned the University national recognition, ranking third among all U.S. public universities for startup creation.  

"At the University of Minnesota, we know that breakthrough discoveries only reach their full potential if they move from the lab to the market and into people’s lives,” said Joanne Billings, interim vice president for research and innovation. “This 300-startup milestone proves the University is a national leader in successfully bridging the gap between scientific discovery and the marketplace. More than 70% of the spin-offs generated by the University stay in Minnesota, benefitting our local economies, creating jobs and improving lives."

Translating innovation into impact
The University of Minnesota has a lengthy history of groundbreaking innovations, ranging from the first wearable artificial pacemaker to the tasty Honeycrisp apple. But just because a researcher has a great idea doesn’t mean it will translate into a successful business. 

That’s where the University’s Technology Commercialization office comes into play. The office is a force multiplier built to translate innovation into impact. The University sets up researchers for success, providing tailored support. That can include valuable marketing research, tapping into a 600-member business advisory group for advice and, in some cases, investing in early-stage startups via Discovery Capital.

“We are in the business of translation: moving life-saving therapies to the bedside, protecting our ecosystems, and transforming the tools farmers have to feed the world,” said Angie Conley, director of the University of Minnesota Venture Center in the Technology Commercialization office.

Researcher turned entrepreneur
University of Minnesota Professor Jian-Ping Wang knows the difference this support can make. A prolific inventor with 118 patents, Wang has founded multiple companies with the Venture Center’s support. That includes Niron Magnetics, Inc., which uses commonly found materials that can be sourced sustainably to create permanent magnets, instead of having to rely on rare-earth materials. Last fall, the company broke ground on a 190,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Sartell, Minn., creating up to 200 manufacturing jobs.

With the success of Niron Magnetics, Wang has moved on to founding his next startup. He just launched the University’s 301st spin-off with the goal of reducing the massive energy needs of artificial intelligence. Called BesiMax AI Inc., the company seeks to address the energy crisis caused by the recent booming of AI applications using the patented technology, computational random-access memory (CRAM). 

CRAM hardware turns memory into processors and allows data to be processed entirely within a memory array, removing the “memory bottleneck,” an urgent challenge for today’s AI and intelligent systems. Wang and his team of researchers at the College of Science and Engineering demonstrated in a study that CRAM could potentially reduce AI energy consumption by a factor of 1,000.