Innovation District
Innovation: At the crossroads of campus and community
Just a few steps from UNC-Chapel Hill’s classrooms and labs, you find yourself in downtown Chapel Hill’s quickly emerging innovation district. This is where promising startups, innovation-oriented companies and impact-driven non-profits come to grow and converge with talented students and faculty. It’s a place where local entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and top researchers coalesce to find inventive ways to work together. New markets emerge, careers expand and businesses thrive. In Chapel Hill, college town means entrepreneurial epicenter.
An anchor for industry and impact
Within the downtown innovation district, Chapel Hill's innovation hub is center of gravity for ideas, inventions and industry partnerships. The hub is a focal point that gives startups, small local businesses and larger regional and national corporations a physical environment to meet and work in concert. The hub’s programming and support for organizations of all sizes allows large corporate members and startups to:
- Co-create new technologies and business opportunities.
- Showcase your organization’s expertise.
- Amplify your brand in the life science, technology and social entrepreneurship community.
- Network to create new business contacts.
- Identify industry partnerships with other ventures or corporations.
What sets innovation and industry in Chapel Hill apart?
A lot of innovation hubs and districts provide advantages to their communities and members. But few offer the full range of benefits provided by the innovation hub in Chapel Hill. The hub’s unique location within the heart of the downtown innovation district, within the vibrant and at the footstep of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, gives you a mix of advantages that you won’t find elsewhere.
Quick Facts
- No. 6 most innovative university in the world (Reuters)
- 13th largest research university in the U.S. (UNC Research)
- No. 1 coolest small city in America (The Guardian)
- No. 1 school district in North Carolina (Niche)
- No. 3 best city for entrepreneurs (Entrepreneur Magazine)
- No. 4 most educated town in America (WalletHub)
- Top-five national health care brand and provider (UNC Health)
- Frequent arts experiences, festivals and events
- One of America’s best “foodie” towns
- Extensive parks, greenways and open spaces
136 E. Rosemary St. 137 E. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27514