Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management announced a new research institute examining how innovation occurs across science, technology and business. Building on work already underway at Kellogg, the institute will establish a new way to identify and increase opportunities for groundbreaking research coming out of organizations.
Kellogg will lead the Northwestern Innovation Institute (NI Institute), established by a $25 million gift from the Future Wanxiang Foundation. Focusing initially on universities, the NI Institute will use big data analytics and artificial intelligence to aggregate, integrate and analyze diverse datasets on inventions, patents, licenses, revenues, grants and publications from institutions around the world. This data will allow for a deep understanding of how innovation works and how breakthroughs happen, as well as the development of predictive models that enable leaders to increase efficiency and pinpoint new opportunities for innovation.
“The NI Institute is the next frontier in advancing research that has real world impact,” said Kellogg Dean Francesca Cornelli. “This incredible gift from Pin Ni and the Future Wanxiang Foundation will help unlock the full power of innovation at institutions around the world, accelerating breakthroughs that drive economic growth and improve lives.”
Through this work, the institute aims to maximize research outcomes, find untapped innovation, partnership and growth opportunities, and guide investments to the people, ideas and institutions that are most likely to lead to impactful advances.
“For the past century, innovation has fueled remarkable human progress,” said Dashun Wang, Kellogg Chair of Technology and professor of management and organizations at Kellogg. “In the century ahead, the impact of innovation will only grow. If we can make R&D even five percent more efficient, the returns for society would be immense — in longer, healthier and happier lives for everyone around the world.”
Wang will serve as faculty director of the NI Institute, and Alicia Loffler, adjunct professor of strategy at Kellogg and founding executive director of Northwestern’s Innovation and New Ventures Office, will serve as executive director.
The gift follows a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation, awarded as a collaboration between Kellogg and Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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