Institute for Technology Advancement (ITA)

The Institute of Technology Advancement (ITA) is an off-campus technology development center established by the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science to accelerate the transition of high-impact innovative research from UCLA to technology development and commercialization. Start-up funding for the institute was donated by the Henry and Susan Samueli and the Easton Foundation. ITA provides operational flexibility for university researchers, industry, government, and investment partners alike. The flexible organizational structure of ITA complements existing capabilities of the university and industry, allowing the center to move quickly to promote the transition of discoveries to development and commercialization. ITA supports three types of research activities:

  1. Transitional research focuses on demonstrating technical feasibility of technologies and reducing risk in the transition from the laboratory to market. Transitional research can be funded by either government or industry.
  2. Developmental research focuses on innovative ideas for new applications and emerging markets. Ultimately, developmental research could result in a spin-off company funded by leveraging various sources such as SBIR/STTR grants, development contracts, debt financing, and venture capital.
  3. ITA can also facilitate near-term research and development projects that support industry needs by leveraging its flexible infrastructure to enable access to university expertise. ITA can enable industry research support through service agreements.

ITA, as an organization and through its business-savvy Technology Strategists, is a conduit to local, state, government agencies, industry, and venture capital investors. Each Technology Strategist has a specialized domain of expertise and relationships with various funding resources.

For more information, please visit the ITA website.

Last updated
November 17, 2023