UB Business and Entrepreneurship Partnerships Impact Study

UBRI partnered with the University at Buffalo’s Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships (BEP) team, a division of the Office of Research & Economic Development, which works to enable and nurture the innovation economy. UB BEP serves as the bridge between academia and industry supporting partnerships to commercialize new technology, advance existing technology and provide pathways for students to experiential learning and jobs.

UB Business and Entrepreneurship Partnerships conducted a strategic planning process that identified several needs to increase collaboration with industry and measure UB’s total economic impact beyond impacts related to University operations. One of these needs was the development of a standardized process to collect, share, track and report economic data. UBRI worked with the BEP team to establish a standardized data collection process and list of metrics with clear, consistent definitions. UBRI analyzed the data to determine the annual economic impact of BEP operations and the collective annual economic impact of its external partners and clients and produced a report that tells a comprehensive story about BEP-related economic impacts. The report included impacts based on hard numbers as well as success stories derived from interviews of stakeholders participating in BEP partnerships.