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The opportunities that GRA creates are in three main program areas: Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholars®, Centers of Research Excellence and Commercialization. These three areas are not silos; rather, they intersect at multiple points to advance discovery and create economic growth. |
 | | Eminent Scholars >
They are among the brightest minds in their disciplines – GRA’s Eminent Scholars, 58 enterprising scientists whom GRA helped recruit to Georgia. For each scholar, GRA invests $750,000 for an endowment, an amount that the research university matches in private funds on a minimum 1-1 basis. GRA also makes investments in developing the world-class research laboratories the scientists need.
These investments pay tremendous returns: Eminent Scholars often bring a research team, significant federal funding and private support for their research. They advance science and technology toward new discoveries and technologies – often with great commercial potential. All told, Georgia’s investment in GRA Eminent Scholars has yielded more than $1 billion in outside grants and contracts for the state.
In 2007, GRA’s Eminent Scholars program was ranked tops in the nation by the State Science and Technology Institute. |
 | | Centers of Research Excellence >
To build capacity for breakthrough discoveries, GRA invests in Centers of Research Excellence -- 24 to date -- at its partner universities. The investments help ensure that the centers have sophisticated infrastructure to support both fundamental and translational research. GRA’s investment is often in the form of matching funds to attract large federal and private research funding of centers with a national or regional scope.
Several of the GRA Centers of Research Excellence are collaborations of several universities, and several are led by GRA Eminent Scholars. They provide a strong platform for research across disciplines and with industry. That research often sparks new companies or enables existing companies to develop new products and new markets.
A sophisticated infrastructure also drives industry partnership and investment with Georgia’s research universities. That collaboration is key to developing products and commercializing discovery. |
 | | Commercialization >
A key strategy for growing the Georgia economy through scientific research involves bringing discovery to market. The six GRA universities each have technology transfer programs to manage this effort. GRA complements their work on a strategic level by making key investments to form companies around research discoveries and providing incentives for companies to partner with the state’s research universities.
VentureLab is GRA’s signature technology commercialization program. Launched in 2002, VentureLab helps build high-growth companies around laboratory discoveries at GRA’s partner universities. VentureLab seeks out university-based research innovations, evaluates their commercial potential, and provides resources to address the management, market and technology risks that come with new ventures. Each participating university -- Georgia Tech, Emory, the University of Georgia, Georgia State University and the Medical College of Georgia – has an active technology incubator with which VentureLab can partner.
In the last five years through VentureLab, GRA has evaluated the commercial potential of more than 250 inventions or discoveries at universities and awarded VentureLab grants to further develop 100 of the most promising. As a result, 66 early-stage companies have been formed. Collectively, these companies employ more than 350 people and have attracted $200 million in private equity investment.
The ultimate goal of GRA’s commercialization efforts is to grow companies and create high-value jobs. In addition to VentureLab, GRA also makes competitive investments in R&D projects conducted jointly by university faculty and Georgia-based companies. These investments – called Industry Partnership grants – introduce a new level of collaboration. |
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The Georgia Research Alliance creates opportunities to grow Georgia’s economy. This index shows a snapshot of the return on investment in GRA since 1990 – and the numbers grow each year.
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Federal and private investment leveraged
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Major scientific breakthroughs from scholars’ work
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Existing corporations served by university partnerships
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Companies and jobs created
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