Fostering Innovation and Collaboration
UGA’s Innovation District brings together small business development, research commercialization, industry collaboration, and student entrepreneurship. Since its inception in 2018, the Innovation District has helped the University’s economic impact soar, while preparing students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders.
The Entrepreneurship Program, housed in Studio 225, empowers students of any major to become innovators. The Delta Innovation Hub is home to UGA and Athens-area startups alike. The Hub also hosts programs like Innovation Bootcamp, which delivers tailored training to aspiring entrepreneurs.
Student Industry Fellows
A signature program in UGA’s Innovation District, the Student Industry Fellows program is sponsored by The Delta Air Lines Foundation. Open to students of any major, the program cultivates the industry leaders of tomorrow by setting them to work on today’s business problems. For example, in one Delta Design Challenge, students pitched solutions to eliminate single-use plastic bottles on Delta flights.
Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture
The University has identified Integrative Precision Agriculture as an area to invest in and build excellence. The establishment of the Institute for Integrative Precision Agriculture builds on UGA’s decades-long research into using technology and big data for more efficient and sustainable agriculture. The new institute creates a conduit for industry partners to collaborate with faculty and students from multiple fields of study.
Naola Ferguson-Noel
Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine’s Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center
Don’t overlook the impact that poultry medicine has on our world. Naola Ferguson-Noel’s research is catering to a global demand for safe and sustainable food sources.
She is making major inroads in the nearly $500 billion U.S. poultry market. Her work in mycoplasma produces potential life-saving vaccines, and royalties from her inventions have brought over $1.4 million to UGA from sales in multiple countries.
Elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2022, Dr. Ferguson-Noel is an internationally renowned expert on poultry medicine and the co-inventor of two patented mycoplasma vaccine strains.
Most of the funding for my work comes from donors looking for sustainable solutions to the issues that my research targets. These collaborations mean that I focus on diagnostics and therapies that are efficient and practical. Because of that, my major donors are helping to guide the creativity of our efforts.