Partnering for Impact
The biggest challenges cannot be solved by one person or organization. Partnership is a proven catalyst for innovation that leads to positive change—more jobs, healthier people, and thriving communities and industries. When UT and partners align research strengths and resources, everyone achieves more.
Why partner?
Accelerated progress
Partners gain UT expertise and support to reach their goals at any point in the innovation cycle, from fundamental research to technology transfer and entrepreneurial growth.
Mutual advancement
Faculty and student researchers bring tremendous talent to bear for partners. In turn, partners bring problems to solve. These problems become opportunities as faculty develop real-world solutions and students gain hands-on experience and career connections.
Future-facing
innovation network
Partnering with UT means joining our network of researchers, national laboratories, private sector stakeholders, entrepreneurs and start-ups, and community and economic development leaders.
Skilled workforce
Industry, state agency, and academic partners help shape new and evolving education and training programs to meet emerging needs and cultivate a next-generation workforce.
Thriving communities
Research changes people’s lives for the better—if we ask the right research questions. Partners’ input helps UT tailor research to achieve impacts that matter.
Our people
UT faculty are renowned experts in solving challenges that make a difference for the world—and for organizations like yours. Faculty accolades include Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher designations, national academy memberships, National Science Foundation CAREER Awards, and a Turing Award. Faculty members hold joint national laboratory appointments, advise industry leaders, and inform new policies.
Our approach
UT empowers interdisciplinary collaborations to accelerate new discoveries and translate research insights into game-changing technologies and practices. Investments in faculty cluster hiring initiatives and the UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute’s convergent research initiatives demonstrate UT’s commitment to breaking traditional boundaries to deliver fresh, impactful solutions to partners’ challenges.
Our facilities
UT is a major land-grant research university, and its state-of-the-art research infrastructure anchors one of the nation’s most rapidly growing innovation corridors. Core facilities are complemented by trailblazing departmental labs, advanced computing infrastructure, co-location spaces like the Center for Precision Health, AgResearch and Education Centers, and access to Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
UT Research by the numbers
$386.95M
total research expenditures
(FY 2024)
$8.62M
industry-sponsored research expenditures
(FY 2024)
No. 7
in the nation for US Department of Energy Funding
(NSF HERD 2023)
IEPU
APLU Innovation and Economic Partnership designation
(since 2020)
Take your next step toward partnership
Your next step is simple: contact the Innovation Partnerships and Economic Development team. We’ll get to know your organization and match you with the right UT talent and research program to meet your goals.