The University Chief Innovation Officers (CIO) Workshop was held on April 8, 2025, in Salt Lake City, Utah, convening senior innovation leaders from institutions nationwide. The workshop focused on knowledge sharing around the evolving role of CIOs in higher education, strategies to accelerate innovation on campus, and opportunities to collaborate with industry and peer institutions.
Attendees candidly discussed how CIOs can champion transformative change, align innovation efforts with institutional priorities, and leverage university assets to drive societal and economic impact. The workshop also featured insights from UIDP Community Partner CannonDesign, highlighting actionable approaches to designing spaces and systems that foster innovation ecosystems.
Held in conjunction with UIDP Utah 2025, the event provided valuable networking opportunities and a platform to learn from and collaborate with both UIDP community members and other academic leaders.
Need a recap?
Below are the key resources cited and available presentation materials from the University Chief Innovation Officers Workshop. Be sure to bookmark this page for future updates and resources. Please note that these presentations were not prepared by UIDP and do not necessarily reflect UIDP policies or positions.
Takeaways
- CIO role and leadership. There is wide variance in CIO job descriptions; the role is often about persuasion and culture enrichment rather than command and control.
- Innovation culture. Innovation should serve the broader campus community “for the many and the few.”
- Communication and collaboration challenges. Cross-campus communication remains fragmented—each department is an “island.”
- Processes and structure. Ecosystem mapping is vital to connect innovation activities across schools.
- Measurement and outcomes. Innovation rankings and reputational metrics (e.g., George Bush Institute) are gaining attention.
- Trends and future concerns. More universities are exploring AI-driven insights from innovation data (e.g., Northwestern/National Science Foundation (NSF) project).
Shared Insights
- Continue engagement. Discuss bringing these issues to the attention of chancellors and provosts.
- Evaluate structure and communication. Hire or designate a marketing/communications lead for innovation. Create or unify a campus-wide innovation event calendar. Continue or initiate monthly meetings with internal communications teams.
- Assess process mapping. Conduct ecosystem mapping to identify resources and redundancies. Develop instruments to assess internal and external stakeholder needs. Identify and close communication holes across schools and departments.
- Develop frameworks and roadmaps. Develop robust, adaptable roadmaps that reflect ecosystem complexity. Use NSF-funded tools or collaborate with institutions like Northwestern to leverage AI in analyzing innovation data
- Align promotion and tenure. Review Promotion & Tenure – Innovation & Entrepreneurship (PTIE) standards and explore ways to embed I&E into tenure discussions. Begin conversations with department chairs to normalize entrepreneurial activity in academic evaluations
- Integrate industry. Facilitate joint faculty appointments with industry. Establish regular industry-academic engagement forums.
- Define success and impact. Refine KPIs to capture real impact, not just outputs. Emphasize societal impact alongside economic measures.
Shared Links and Resources
Chief Innovation Officer organizational charts
Contributed by participants
Example of innovation ecosystem development
Innovate Carolina; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Customer discovery model to connect academia and industry
I-Corps (Princeton University); see also NSF I-Corps
Branding example of innovation as a standalone entity
UK Innovate; University of Kentucky
This draws from economic policy-making experience at the highest levels and from cutting-edge academic research to identify ideas for promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, and faster, more inclusive growth through global competitiveness and sound immigration policy.