University of Central Flordia earns Renewal of APLU’s Innovation and Economic Prosperity designation

Authors:

• Winston Schoenfeld, Vice President for Research & Innovation, University of Central Florida
• Marc S. Mendonca, Associate Vice President for Research & Scholarship, University of Central Florida

The University of Central Florida is proud to share that it has been reapproved for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Innovation & Economic Prosperity (IEP) designation, reaffirming UCF’s sustained commitment to economic engagement, innovation, talent development, and community partnership. The APLU IEP 5-Year Renewal process reaffirmed UCF’s commitment to economic engagement and helped ensure that its growth and improvement strategy remains active, measurable, and forward-looking.

Since UCF’s initial APLU IEP designation in 2013, the Central Florida regional economy and UCF’s role have evolved. Early IEP efforts emphasizing industry engagement, applied research, and talent development have matured into a comprehensive, ecosystem-based approach aligned with UCF’s Strategic Plan and its vision as a “University for the Future.”

For UCF, this renewal reflects more than recognition. It reinforces who we are: Florida’s Technological University, a metropolitan research institution built to connect ideas, people, and partnerships in ways that create opportunity at scale. UCF describes itself as a university where research becomes progress, progress attracts talent, and talent drives the next breakthrough, while also highlighting its position among the nation’s most innovative public universities.

At UCF, economic prosperity is not an abstract goal — it is visible in the university’s impact on Florida’s workforce, industries, and communities. UCF’s economic impact study found that the university generated $8.1 billion in added income for Florida in 2021–22, equivalent to supporting 91,933 jobs statewide. The same study found that UCF had 335,000+ alumni, with 80% staying and working in Florida and 50% living in Central Florida, underscoring the university’s role as a talent engine for the state and region.

That impact is powered by a research and innovation enterprise designed to move discoveries into application. UCF reports $237.4 million in sponsored research funding in 2025, 61 U.S. patents issued, 32 licenses and options executed, and 10 new products based on UCF technology entering the market in FY 2025. Those outcomes reflect the university’s long-term focus on translating scholarship into real-world solutions that strengthen industries, improve lives, and expand opportunity. You can learn more about these efforts at UCF Research, Partnerships & Innovation and UCF’s economic impact in Florida.

Several signature initiatives illustrate how UCF advances the three pillars often associated with APLU’s IEP framework: talent, innovation, and place. In innovation, UCF’s Exolith Lab helps researchers, students, NASA collaborators, and industry partners test technologies in high-fidelity simulated lunar and planetary environments. In entrepreneurship, the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, including the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars Network, supports students, alumni, faculty, and staff in building entrepreneurial mindsets and launching new ventures. In community engagement, the Center for Social and Civic Prosperity brings university and community stakeholders together through co-created research, training, and outreach focused on measurable community well-being.

Over the past five years, UCF has expanded stakeholder engagement processes to reflect its metropolitan mission and commitment to inclusive economic development. Public examples include federal and defense-related collaborations (e.g., U.S. Space Force Partnership), regional resilience partnerships (Mobile Resilience Hub with the City of Orlando), healthcare expansion (Nemours partnership and investment), and immersive/themed entertainment collaborations (Universal Creative).

These efforts are deeply aligned with UCF’s broader strategic direction. UCF’s strategic plan explicitly links economic prosperity to research and innovation, emphasizing the importance of extending the impact, application, and commercialization of knowledge. UCF’s recently launched Go for Launch campaign further highlights its intention to expand opportunity, accelerate discovery, and position the institution to lead Florida and the nation into a new era of impact.

As part of this renewal, UCF also looks forward to deepening its engagement with peer institutions across the APLU IEP community and continuing to engage in the reflective process that supports continuous learning and strategic improvement. UCF sees strong potential to work with fellow IEP universities on joint talent and workforce development strategies, cross-institution entrepreneurship pipelines, community-engaged research models, and shared approaches to measuring regional impact.

In that spirit, UCF welcomes opportunities to collaborate with institutions across the IEP network in areas where shared learning can accelerate public impact. Potential areas include space and aerospace innovation, technology commercialization, civic and community prosperity research, student entrepreneurship, and regional economic resilience. UCF’s scale, location, and interdisciplinary strengths position the university to both contribute to and learn from this dynamic environment — exactly the kind of reciprocal, practice-based exchange that makes the IEP community so valuable.

UCF also looks forward to amplifying this work nationally through APLU’s communication channels and recognition opportunities tied to APLU’s annual meeting and IEP awards processes. By sharing UCF’s story through those channels, this renewal becomes more than an institutional milestone — it becomes an opportunity to showcase how a modern public research university can drive prosperity through innovation, partnership, and access. UCF is proud to continue contributing to the national conversation about how universities can strengthen regions, expand opportunity, and transform ideas into impact.

We are honored by this reapproval, energized by the work ahead, and excited to continue building with our partners across Central Florida, the state, and the APLU IEP community.