Montana Tech Graduate School Testimonials

Translation of scientific discoveries and engineering innovations is a critical aspect of the STEM landscape, and as a STEM-focused institution, also an emerging part of a Montana Tech education.  In Academic Year 2024, Montana Tech inventors submitted 8 provisional patents and 2 full utility patents, with over 90% of these applications including student inventors. With ~200 active researchers at Montana Tech, this represents a 4-fold increase in patent activity since 2021 baselines.  In Summer 2024, Montana Tech will be supplementing inventorship with opportunities for students to translate their invention to practice.  A new ‘Entrepreneur in Training’ (EIT) program, in partnership with the federally designated Headwaters Technology Hub (HTH) and our MilTech partners, and our newest partner Office of Technology Translation Research at Montana State University, will train students to perform a technology viability assessment (TVA) of Montana Tech inventions.  EITs will consist of both student inventors as well as business-focused students that are looking to understand the start-up and venture capital space.  The student-led TVA will be used to inform both the University and outside investors on the likelihood that these inventions will move to commercialization, based on competition, scalability, manufacturability, and compatibility with an existing portfolio.