The Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HIIE) fosters an entrepreneurial community and innovative ecosystem at UAB and provides the infrastructure required for faculty, staff, and students to commercialize innovation within the region and beyond.
Through partnerships with UAB schools, colleges, programs, and the local business community, the HIIE works to increase innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and businesses to launch sustainable startups with new or disruptive technologies.
The HIIE houses UAB’s technology transfer office, the UAB Research Foundation. We serve as the university hub for innovations developed by UAB faculty and staff, and we help create business relationships between UAB faculty and commercial entities in order to develop products from discoveries, inventions, and research generated on our campus. These relationships often lead to licensing agreements, which grant the commercial entities rights to develop those technologies.
There are many potential benefits to successful technology commercialization, including but not limited to:
- Research funding for investigators and their labs;
- Licensing revenues and/or equity value;
- Reinvestment in the local economic ecosystem;
- An increase in campus-wide interest in applied research, and patenting and licensing processes;
- Creation of a culture of entrepreneurship, which benefits faculty recruitment and retention; and
- Development of medical, healthcare, and technology solutions.
Meet Our Team
Meet Senior Licensing Associate Karen Bernard and the rest of the Harbert Institute team.
Read Our Story
See a timeline of the Harbert Institute's history and learn more about where we've been and where we're going.
Contact Us
Get directions to our office, parking information and essential email addresses and phone numbers on our Contact Us page.
Become a Fellow
Learn about our Innovate Fellows program for graduate students and postdocs.