University of Iowa Research Foundation

What University of Iowa Research Foundation does

The University of Iowa Research Foundation (UIRF) is an internal unit of The University of Iowa operating under the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR). Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa, UIRF is staffed by 1-10 employees and functions as the technology transfer and intellectual property management arm for the university, handling invention disclosures, patent prosecution, and commercialization of UI-developed technologies. The foundation operates under the governance of the Iowa Board of Regents and is led by VP for Research David C. Schwebel; Aliasger Salem was promoted to senior associate vice president for research effective July 1, 2026.

UIRF's service portfolio is delivered through OVPR's larger research support infrastructure. The Research Development Office (RDO) provides grant writing, funding opportunity identification, proposal review, and targeted programs including the NIH K Club+ (with ICTS) and NSF CAREER Club. The Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI), established in 2024, adds methodological consulting, a 49-researcher affiliate network, survey research services via Verasight and SurveyHarvest, and grant development capacity that supported 102 grant applications seeking $53 million in 2024. The Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI) provides internal funding for humanities scholars. Delivery is direct to UI faculty, researchers, and graduate students through institutional channels — websites (research.uiowa.edu, cssi.research.uiowa.edu), monthly newsletters, events, and dedicated offices — including CSSI's facility at 605 E. Jefferson St. in the Social Sciences Research Building.

The business model is institutional rather than commercial: most services are provided free to UI researchers as part of OVPR's central support function. The only direct fee-bearing offerings are the Write Winning Grant Proposals Seminar ($200 per registrant, including workbook and materials, registration deadline September 30, 2026) and the Intensive Workshop and Consultation ($4,400 per participant, cost-shared with the participant's college, department, and OVPR). The foundation has no external customers, no venture funding, and no M&A activity; it derives its operating scope from its structural position as UI's official research transfer office rather than from market-based revenue.

Name

University of Iowa Research Foundation

Legal name

University of Iowa Research Foundation

Website

https://research.uiowa.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1975

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The University of Iowa Research Foundation is an internal unit of The University of Iowa that manages intellectual property, technology transfer, and commercialization of UI-developed inventions, while supporting faculty and graduate researchers through grant development, methodology consulting, and research incubation services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Research Administration and Technology Transfer Services

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Educational Services (611), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAHAAAC

Public Research Universities with Academic Medical Centers (AMCs)

Education/Higher Education (Colleges & Universities)/Public Research Universities

SECONDARYBPAIAAAK

Science, Technology & Innovation Administration (National R&D Policy)

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Central/Federal Government Administration

Keywords

• Technology transfer services
• Intellectual property management
• Research development support
• Grant proposal services
• University research commercialization

Headquarters

HQ city

Iowa City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Sponsored Research Funding: The organization facilitates research funding from federal agencies (NIH, NSF, DoD, DOE, NASA), foundations, and other sponsors. UI researchers received $534M in FY25 research funding across 2,300+ active sponsored research projects.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The University of Iowa Research Foundation (UIRF) operates as a unit within the university's Office of the Vice President for Research, providing intellectual property management, technology transfer, and commercialization services for University of Iowa inventions and discoveries. Its broader portfolio includes the Research Development Office (RDO) for grant proposal support, the Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI) for social science research services, and training programs such as the NIH K Club+, NSF CAREER Club, and the Arts and Humanities Initiative. Most services are delivered free to UI faculty and researchers, with select fee-based workshops and seminars.

Product overview

The University of Iowa Research Foundation operates under the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) and functions as an institutional research support infrastructure rather than a technology product company. It provides a comprehensive ecosystem of research support services including the Research Development Office (RDO) for grant development, NIH K Club+ and NSF CAREER Club for early career researcher training, the Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI) for humanities funding, and the Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI) for social science research infrastructure. These offerings include workshops (Write Winning Grant Proposals seminar), methodological training, survey research services, and residency programs. The foundation does not offer a commercial software product or technology platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• UI Research Foundation (UIRF) Intellectual property management and technology transfer office that helps UI faculty protect, disclose, and commercialize inventions and discoveries developed at the University of Iowa.
• Research Development Office (RDO) Provides grant writing support, funding opportunity discovery, proposal review, and career development programs for UI researchers and faculty.
• Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI) Central hub for social scientists providing research incubation, multimethodology research services, grant development support, residency programs, and access to survey platforms such as Verasight and SurveyHarvest.
• Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI) Competitive internally-reviewed grant program supporting scholars in humanities and creative arts with funding up to $30,000 for major projects, $10,000 for conferences, and $7,500 for standard grants.
• NSF CAREER Club Researcher development program offering editing, graphic design, internal/external review, and consultation to assistant professors preparing NSF CAREER applications.
• NIH K Club+ Jointly delivered with the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) K Club, providing assistant professors and postdocs with graphic design, editing, and grant review services for NIH K award applications.
• Write Winning Grant Proposals Seminar and Workshop Comprehensive grant writing training presented by Grant Writers' Seminars & Workshops (GWSW) covering practical and conceptual aspects of writing competitive grant proposals for NIH, NSF, and other federal agencies. The seminar costs $200 per registrant; the intensive workshop costs $4,400 per participant.
• SurveyHarvest Survey Research Service Survey initiative providing UI researchers access to nationally representative or tailored samples for web surveys on various topics through the Verasight platform.
• CSSI Research Incubation Programs Suite of programs including CSSI Faculty Research Fellowship, Summer Researcher-in-Residence Program, Dissertation Completion Program, Grant Writing Residency Program, Research Convergence Residency, and Writers' Circles (Write on Target, Grant Writers' Circle).
• Grant Development Services (CSSI) Grant development support including budget preparation, proposal review, and consultation managed by the CSSI Grant Development Manager and Grant Development Specialists.

Quantifiable outcome

• CSSI supported 102 grant applications applying for $53 million in funding in 2024
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership with ICTS K Club to provide NIH K award support programs. The NIH K Club+ is jointly designed and delivered, combining expertise in clinical research development and career development award preparation.
• Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNSF-supported organization that provides Broader Impacts/Research Impacts seminars and training. ARIS presents workshops on broader impacts concepts including BI 101, BI Partnerships, and Evaluating BI for NSF CAREER awards.
• AtKisson Training GroupcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPresenter of K Award Ecosystem and NSF CAREER grant writing seminars. Provides expert training on proposal components, review criteria, and career development award preparation.
• Grant Writers' Seminars & Workshops (GWSW)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPartnership to deliver Write Winning Grant Proposals seminar and intensive workshop. Dr. John Robertson from GWSW presents comprehensive grant writing training with proven methodologies.
• Johnson County (Iowa) GovernmentminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for public opinion research including jail assessment surveys, Sheriff's Office evaluations, and Community Violence Intervention program needs assessment.
• Iowa City Police DepartmentminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnalysis of traffic enforcement patterns and data collaboration for research on policing and public safety.
• Iowa Cancer Registry ConsortiumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Sarah Nash (CSSI researcher affiliate) providing cancer surveillance data for public health research.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Hanover Research: Hanover provides subscription-based research and grant-development support to universities and school districts, directly competing with UIRF/CSSI-style internal services in the social science and education research space.

Direct peers

• Grant Writers' Seminars & Workshops (GWSW): GWSW delivers the "Write Winning Grant Proposals" seminar and intensive workshops that UIRF/OVPR resells to its researchers; it is both a commercial partner and a direct functional peer in grant-development training.
• Purdue Research Foundation: Purdue Research Foundation operates a comparable university-affiliated research commercialization and economic-development organization at another Big Ten public R1, with overlapping tech transfer, IP management, and research park functions.
• MIT Technology Licensing Office: MIT TLO handles invention disclosures, patenting, and licensing from MIT research, including the formation of startups around MIT IP. Direct functional peer for UIRF's tech transfer operations.
• Penn Center for Innovation: University of Pennsylvania's tech transfer office handles invention disclosure, patenting, licensing, and startup formation. Comparable to UIRF's commercialization function, though at a private R1 with a higher licensing-revenue base.
• Stanford Office of Technology Licensing (OTL): Stanford OTL is a top-tier university technology licensing office managing disclosures, patents, and licensing for one of the most prolific research institutions globally. Direct functional peer for UIRF's commercialization mandate, though at much larger scale.
• University of Michigan Office of Research: UMich's central research administration unit oversees sponsored research, internal funding programs, and core facilities at a peer Big Ten public R1, with similar grant development and researcher-support services to OVPR/RDO.
• Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF): WARF is the University of Wisconsin–Madison's technology transfer and research commercialization office, managing patents, licensing, and equity in spinouts. It is the most direct analog to UIRF's stated IP/commercialization mission within a public R1 university.

Broad incumbents

• NORC at the University of Chicago: NORC is an independent research organization affiliated with UChicago that conducts large-scale social science survey research, program evaluation, and methodological consulting. Overlaps with CSSI's survey and community-research services but at far greater scale and scope.

Regional players

• Odum Institute (UNC Chapel Hill): UNC's Odum Institute is a social science research methods hub offering survey, statistical, and methodological consulting similar to CSSI. Comparable service mix, though regional rather than national in scope.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ResearchAtIowa
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/university-of-iowa
• Xx.com/_UIRF
• Facebookfacebook.com/UIResearchFoundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about University of Iowa Research Foundation