Economic Development

The event will be hosted by Chancellor Douglas A. Girod, with featured guests including Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, Kansas legislators, city of Lawrence officials and regional business leaders.

Community and industry leaders, policymakers and scholars will gather at the University of Kansas in October to discuss how to share and protect one of Kansas’ most important resources: water. The 2025 Kansas Economic Policy Conference will take place Oct. 23 at the Burge Union with a livestream option.

University of Kansas researchers join the University of Missouri-Kansas City in a collaboration named one of 15 finalists for the National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines award.

A recent report from the Institute for Research on Innovation & Science shows more than 7,000 KU research-funded employees leveraged their experience to build careers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2011 to 2023 — and nearly 40% found employment in Kansas.

The University of Kansas is a powerful engine of economic growth and job creation for the state of Kansas, according to a new study detailing the university’s impact.

The University of Kansas School of Business received a $10 million gift commitment from an anonymous donor that ensures the construction of a new entrepreneurship hub building that benefits the greater KU community by teaching students to solve problems in meaningful ways. The new gift supplements the donor's lead gift of $50 million in 2023.

The University of Kansas ranked 37th among public institutions in the Top 100 U.S. Universities Granted Utility Patents in 2024, a list published by the National Academy of Inventors. The list showcases universities that play a pivotal role in advancing the innovation ecosystem and driving economic growth in the United States. KU ranked 59th among all universities.

Research and development expenditures spanning all University of Kansas campuses increased to $546.1 million in fiscal year 2024, surpassing the half-billion-dollar mark for the first time in university history. The reverberations of that growth extend far beyond KU to benefit people throughout the Sunflower State and beyond.

With $5 million in support from U.S. Department of Energy, the University of Kansas and Avium, a startup firm founded by researchers from KU’s School of Engineering, aim to make clean hydrogen more affordable.

The woods can be a place of adventure and beauty, a peaceful escape for a walk. But among the leaves and grass, the threat of ticks can turn a hike into a health-altering encounter with Lyme disease. A recent $3 million Small Business Innovation Research award will fund the research and development of a vaccine to stop Lyme disease in its tracks.