RALEIGH — NCInnovation, a North Carolina-based public-private partnership focused on commercializing university research, has awarded its inaugural Pipeline Grants to four faculty-led projects at UNC Asheville.
Each project receives $10,000 to advance early-stage innovations toward intellectual property development and potential market application. The awards are aimed at highlighting interdisciplinary efforts across business, mathematics, music and new media departments.
NCInnovation’s (NCI) press release said the awards are “underscoring the university’s interdisciplinary approach to innovation and entrepreneurship.”
“We are deeply grateful to NCInnovation for recognizing the transformative work happening at UNC Asheville and for helping us turn our faculty’s ingenuity into engines of regional growth,” said UNCA Chancellor Kimberly van Noorte. “These four faculty-led projects each reflect our university’s commitment to turning bold ideas into practical tools that serve people and strengthen our economy.”
The four funded initiatives include a virtual reality simulation for practicing workplace conversations and ethical dilemmas; an AI-assisted online forum for mathematical discussions with feedback tools; a location-based multimedia app delivering real-time historical and cultural information; and a fixturing system for safe waterjet cutting of delicate materials.
The latest announcement builds on NCI’s recent activities.
In January, the organization launched the Pipeline Program at UNC Asheville, establishing it as the first UNC System campus to implement this initiative and issue awards to faculty.
“This is exactly how the Pipeline Program was designed to work,” Michelle Bolas, newly named permanent president and CEO, said of the Pipeline Program. “UNC Asheville moved quickly, engaged faculty across disciplines, and built a clear, faculty-centered process that shows how accessible this program can be when institutions lean in.”
Last December, NCInnovation approved $10 million in funding for 13 applied research projects spanning 11 UNC System institutions, bringing its total grant investments to $29 million across 38 projects.
