Licensing & Ventures Group

The UVA Licensing & Venture Group partners with faculty, researchers, and investors to bring innovations discovered at UVA to the marketplace. In 2022, the U.S. National Science Foundation announced that the University of Virginia would be part of its new Mid-South Innovation Corps Hub, a consortium whose aim is to enhance innovation capacity, support promising research, generate economic value and create opportunities for diverse communities.

The iCorps program prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the laboratory to increase the economic and societal impact of NSF-funded and other basic research projects. The LVG Seed Fund supports new ventures emerging from the UVA research portfolio. Managed by the UVA Licensing & Ventures Group, the $10 million LVG Seed Fund is uniquely positioned to assess new ventures created from UVA research ideas and discoveries.

i.Lab Incubator

The i.Lab Incubator provides a goal-oriented, guided-learning program for student founders of innovative ventures. The incubator is an initiative of the Batten Institute at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, which has sponsored an early-stage, summer incubator program for over twenty years. 

Suited to founders who are at the stage of testing, iterating, and validating solutions to perceived problems, the incubator facilitates accelerated learning and venture growth. The program offers an immersive experience for founders with a passion for addressing problems with meaningful solutions. At a minimum, founders need some version of the solution, or minimum viable product (MVP), to participate.

434 Accelerator

434 is a long-format accelerator, providing high-potential startups in central Virginia with nine months of program support, including: $20,000 in grant funding, dedicated workspace, experienced founders-in-residence, monthly programming, dedicated staff, a large network of industry experts, and access to nearly $50,000 in additional resources.