The University of Texas at Austin is a public research university whose commercialization path runs through Discovery to Impact, with a licensing office that returned nine figures in a single year and a seed fund that invests in university startups.
Research and development spending was $1.4 billion in the year covered by the Discovery to Impact 2025 report, Sept. 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2025. Faculty and researchers generated 300 invention disclosures, a 15% increase from the prior fiscal year. The university filed 154 new patent applications, signed 112 new licenses and options, executed 16 corporate-sponsored research agreements, and formed 12 startups. Licensing revenue was $182 million. The university holds more than 850 active license agreements and lists more than 650 technologies available for licensing, across emerging technology, advanced materials, energy, and health and life sciences.
Commercialization runs through Discovery to Impact. The office moves disclosures through evaluation, protection, marketing, and licensing, then reinvests revenue in the research enterprise.
- UT Seed Fund
A $10 million fund. Nine startups have been funded to date. In 2025 the university invested in four new startups in computer sciences, physical sciences, and life sciences. - Proof of concept
Fifteen proof-of-concept awards and 10 life-science technology evaluations in the report year. - Founder rankings
PitchBook’s 2025 university rankings, based on undergraduate alumni who raised venture capital in the last decade, placed Texas No. 2 among U.S. public universities for startup creation and No. 8 globally among public and private universities. That is a different count from the 12 university startups formed in the report year.
Investors and founders can reach Mark Arnold, associate vice president of Discovery to Impact and managing director of Longhorn Ventures, through the office.
Learn more about Discovery to Impact
Learn more about The University of Texas at Austin
