University clusters link research, market

Universities can be among the strongest economic-development engines, and part of that can be attributed to the work done at university “clusters,” or engines for linking research and commercial products.

The University of Colorado, University of Wyoming and Colorado State University are all home to these types of efforts in some form or another, and each is growing and introducing new research that either have or could morph into a marketable product.

At CU, clusters are called research institutes. CU houses 11 of these research institutes, which accounted for more than half of the $380 million in 2012 sponsored research dollars at…