Driving Innovation: How University Research-Defense Collaborations Can Fuel North Carolina’s Growth

The Institute for Convergent Science is a member of a newly formed coalition that aims to empower researchers by fostering collaborations with the defense community, driving economic growth across the state.

FEBRUARY 5, 2025

By Shellie Edge

Photography by Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill

North Carolina has deep-rooted connections to the military. With nearly 95,000 active-duty personnel serving across three branches, the state’s citizens benefit from strong collaboration between local and state governments, the military and defense sectors, and local businesses – fostering mutual growth and innovation.

With these strong ties, how can university’s support these efforts to help drive economic impact and value? The newly formed North Carolina Coalition for Defense Research (NC CDR) is working to strengthen connections between researchers at North Carolina universities and the defense community. Its vision is to position North Carolina as a Top 10 state for annual Department of Defense (DoD) basic research funding. The Institute for Convergent Science (ICS), within Innovate Carolina, is helping to lead this effort for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

“As a leader in innovation and economic development, we have a responsibility to empower our researchers and innovators tackling critical technological and societal challenges,” says Dedric A. Carter, PhD, MBA. “By linking them with funding opportunities in the defense community, we can provide essential support to advance their ventures and technologies throughout the research and development process.”

Innovate Carolina recently spoke with Gregory P. Copenhaver, Director of ICS and Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Convergent Science at UNC-CH, and Denny Lewis, Senior Advisor, Strategic Initiatives at the North Carolina Military Business Center, to learn more about NC CDR and how UNC-CH researchers can leverage the coalition’s support.  

What inspired the formation of the North Carolina Coalition for Defense Research?

North Carolina has an amazing defense community. As a state, we rank fourth in active-duty service members who serve across nine military instillations. In addition, the defense sector is the second largest employer in the state and generates $66 billion in economic value annually. But despite that, North Carolina isn’t ranked high for defense-related research funding receipts. NC CDR was created to help fill this gap, connecting researchers at our universities to the defense community.

Why is the collaboration between North Carolina’s universities, innovation ecosystem, and the defense sector critical in helping drive economic growth and job creation in the state?

Innovate Carolina defines innovation as the translation of fundamental knowledge into strategic, economic and societal value. The NC CDR achieves all three. It supports our defense community, which is the bedrock of our national strategic interests, it drives economic value by connecting researchers at our remarkable universities with the $66 billion defense-related economy in NC, and it creates societal value by serving those who have dedicated themselves to serving all of us.

What opportunities does NC CDR provide for researchers and small businesses in North Carolina?

NC CDR is a very young organization – in fact, we just hosted our first public event. So, we’re still exploring all the ways we can help. Our first event focused on helping university folks, particularly those who do early-stage research and who don’t have experience with defense-related funding, understand the sometimes-daunting Department of Defense (DOD) landscape. Future events may focus on other stages of the research continuum, including folks doing applied research or who are launching start-ups/spin-outs based on defense related technologies developed at their university.

How can participants leverage their involvement with NC CDR to advance their projects or initiatives?

In this first event we were able to connect participants with Dr. Julia Barzyk of Wise Investigators who did an amazing job of providing an introduction for how to seek defense-related funding. Participants were also able to ask her more granular questions related to their specific needs. In addition, we saw a lot of networking between researchers, small company representatives, and members of the NC defense community before and after the main event.

As a founding member, how can Innovate Carolina contribute to the coalition’s mission? 

We hope to connect university researchers with the broader state and national defense-related research community. Despite a common interest in supporting research, it is surprising how such closely related communities can speak different “languages” (norms for seeking, doing and disseminating research). We will dedicate energy into bringing together people who don’t normally talk to one another and help foster innovation-oriented conversations and connections.

Can you share any key insights from this first event? 

Our aim was to inspire university researchers to engage DOD funding mechanisms for the first time. Most university researchers are familiar with non-defense funding mechanisms like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) and are well-versed in the norms of how to apply to them. DOD funding mechanisms can be quite different. A small but important example is the premium that many defense-related program officers put on having an established relationship and pre-vetted ideas prior to submitting a formal proposal. Our expert, Dr. Barzyk, a former Army program officer, gave extensive advice on how to build those relationships and get ideas pre-vetted.

What’s next for the NC CDR?

We are planning additional events and will digest feedback from our first event before solidifying specific topics. We want to make sure we are providing value for folks all along the research development pathway, so subsequent events may be aimed at translational or applied research or may engage folks who have had a DOD grant and would now like to expand their portfolio.

Participants who attended the kick-off event and have feedback for us, please feel free to contact either Denny Lewis (lewisd@ncmbc.us) or Gregory P. Copenhaver (gcopenhaver@bio.unc.edu).  In addition, we’d be delighted to talk with other North Carolina Universities who might like to join us, particularly those with innovation or accelerator programs. 

Current members of the NC CDR include the UNC System Office; Duke; East Carolina University; University of North Carolina Wilmington; North Carolina A&T, NC State University; NC Innovation; UNC Chapel Hill including Innovate Carolina & The Institute for Convergent Science; National Security Innovation Network; North Carolina Military Business Center; and the NC Office of Science, Technology & Innovation.