Innovation Law Center

What Innovation Law Center does

The Innovation Law Center is an academic center within Syracuse University College of Law, established in 1990 as the first program of its kind in the United States to provide law students with experiential learning in technology commercialization. The center operates as an interdisciplinary applied-research and teaching program, with students working in supervised teams on real-world projects for startups, established companies, universities, federal laboratories, and entrepreneurs seeking IP strategy, market intelligence, and regulatory guidance for new technologies. Since 2004, the center has held the designation of the New York State Science and Technology Law Center (NYSSTLC) from NYSTAR, a division of Empire State Development, which provides state-level funding and an official regional mandate.

The center's core portfolio consists of six interlocking programs: the Innovation Law Practicum (Law 815), the Technology Commercialization Law Studies concentration, the Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute (SIPLI), the Transactional Law Clinic (affiliated with the USPTO Law School Clinic Certification Program), the NYSSTLC research service for external clients, and, since 2022, the CASTLE Certificate of Advanced Study in Technology Law and Entrepreneurship, a joint offering with the Whitman School of Management. Together these products deliver applied IP, patent, copyright, regulatory, and licensing analysis across New York State and beyond, while training law students for careers in intellectual property, tech transfer, and innovation law.

The business model is that of an embedded academic center rather than a commercial enterprise. The center does not sell its services at market rates; instead, it is funded through a combination of NYSTAR/Empire State Development grants supporting the NYSSTLC designation, standard Syracuse University College of Law tuition (which flows to the university rather than the center), and student support mechanisms such as half-paid scholarships and hourly paid research positions. External clients receive research services as a function of the educational mission, and the center's measurable outputs are graduate placement (85% for the Class of 2019-2025, with 600+ alumni since 1993 placed at employers including Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Regeneron, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, the DOJ, the FCC, the FTC, the USPTO, and leading research universities) rather than fee-for-service revenue.

Name

Innovation Law Center

Legal name

Syracuse University College of Law - Innovation Law Center

Website

https://innovation-law-center.syr.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Innovation Law Center is an academic center at Syracuse University College of Law, established in 1990, that delivers experiential technology commercialization research and IP, market, and regulatory analysis to law students and external innovators across New York State under the NYSSTLC designation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Education and Technology Commercialization Research

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Law School Research Centers & Institutes (e.g., Law & Economics, Human Rights) (EDAHAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Technology Transfer & Innovation-Driven Research Universities (High Commercialization) (EDAHABAH), Law & Legal Studies Research Universities (EDAHABAF)

Keywords

• Technology commercialization law
• Intellectual property research
• Patent law education
• Legal clinic services
• Technology transfer research

Headquarters

HQ city

Syracuse

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: Primary funding from NYSTAR (New York Science, Technology, and Innovation division of Empire State Development) as the designated New York State Science and Technology Law Center since 2004
2. Tuition Revenue: Revenue from law students enrolled in the Technology Commercialization Law Studies program and related courses at Syracuse University College of Law
3. Scholarship Programs: Students receive half-paid scholarships and hourly paid positions for participating in research projects

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Innovation Law Center is an academic center within Syracuse University College of Law that provides experiential learning programs in technology commercialization law. It combines law student coursework with hands-on consulting, delivering intellectual property, market, and regulatory research to startups, established companies, universities, and federal laboratories commercializing new technologies. Since 2004 it has operated as the New York State Science and Technology Law Center (NYSSTLC).

Product overview

The Innovation Law Center at Syracuse University College of Law is an academic center offering experiential learning programs in technology commercialization law. The portfolio consists of the Innovation Law Practicum (Law 815) where students consult with real-world clients on IP and commercialization matters; the CASTLE Certificate program for technology law and entrepreneurship; the Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute (SIPLI) providing patent, copyright, and IP law courses; the Transactional Law Clinic offering hands-on legal services; the NYSSTLC providing research and education for technology commercialization; and the Technology Commercialization Law Studies concentration. These programs collectively provide students with skills to counsel inventors, entrepreneurs, and startups on IP matters including patents, trade secrets, copyrights, and trademarks, as well as market intelligence.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Innovation Law Practicum (Law 815)

Quantifiable outcome

• 85% job placement rate for graduates (Class 2019-2025)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Empire State Development / NYSTARcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2004Primary funding source and official designation as the New York State Science and Technology Law Center. NYSTAR provides ongoing support for technology commercialization initiatives and research projects serving New York State innovators.
• US Patent and Trademark OfficecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Transactional Law Clinic is affiliated with the USPTO's Law School Clinic Certification Program, providing legal services on IP protection while giving students practical USPTO interaction experience.
• Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute (SIPLI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSIPLI offers academic courses in patent, copyright, and IP law as a component of the Technology Commercialization Curricular Program, directed by Professor Shubha Ghosh.
• Whitman School of ManagementcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Martin J. Whitman School of Management to offer the CASTLE Certificate of Advanced Study in Technology Law and Entrepreneurship, launched in 2022 for law and graduate students.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Boston University School of Law - Technology Law Clinic: BU Law's Technology Law Clinic provides hands-on IP and technology-commercialization services to clients via a USPTO-affiliated clinical model — operating under the same law-school-clinic paradigm as ILC.
• Stanford Law School - Law, Science & Technology Program / Stanford Center for Legal Informatics (CodeX): Stanford's law-and-technology programs serve a comparable function, combining IP, technology, and entrepreneurship research with experiential learning — a top-tier peer in scope and prestige.
• Berkeley Center for Law and Technology (BCLT): BCLT at UC Berkeley Law is a leading law-school research center focused on law and technology, with deep programs in IP, tech commercialization, and policy research — directly comparable to ILC's interdisciplinary tech-law focus.
• George Mason University - Antonin Scalia Law School IP programs: GMU's law school runs a USPTO-certified IP clinic and IP-focused academic programs, serving as a comparable peer for experiential IP-law education and tech-transfer support.
• Cornell Law School - Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship (LTE) LLM: Cornell's LLM in Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship is an interdisciplinary graduate program at a law school with close ties to Cornell Tech — a direct peer in IP/tech commercialization and entrepreneurship law.

Broad incumbents

• Georgetown University Law Center - IP and Technology Law programs: Georgetown Law offers a broad IP and technology law curriculum including clinical and experiential options — a larger, broader-incumbent peer with overlapping capabilities in IP law and policy.
• University of Michigan Law School - Law and Technology programs: Michigan Law offers broad IP/tech-law curricular and clinical offerings as a generalist peer; while its scale exceeds ILC, it benchmarks the national set of law-school IP clinics that shape competition for students and placement.
• Stanford Technology Law Review / Stanford Law IP Faculty: Stanford Law's broader IP and technology faculty are a well-established incumbent; an adjacent peer for benchmarking curricular and research depth, though not a direct niche competitor to a state-centered commercialization center.

Others

• Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM): AUTM is the professional association supporting university technology transfer — an ecosystem peer that shapes the demand environment for ILC's NYSSTLC-facing clients.

Regional players

• University at Buffalo - Technology Transfer Office: A peer New York State university tech-transfer office that represents the broader regional ecosystem in which ILC's NYSSTLC designation operates — indirectly comparable on geography and target-client overlap.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nysstlc
• YouTubenysstlc.syr.edu/webcasts/?_ga=2.242516354.140011580.1539003545-1561798374.1415372324
• Facebookfacebook.com/NYSSTLC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/innovation-law-center
• Instagraminstagram.com/sulaw_ilc?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Innovation Law Center