For the fourth consecutive year, the University of Georgia ranked No. 1 among U.S. universities for the number of new commercial products brought to market by industry partners based on university research, according to the 2025 annual survey conducted by AUTM. UGA has ranked either No. 1 or 2 for 11 consecutive years and has placed in the top five for all 13 years tracked by AUTM.

In fiscal year 2025, UGA industry partners and startups developed 58 new products from university research.

“UGA’s continued leadership in bringing new products to market is a testament to the strength of our research enterprise,” said Derek Eberhart, associate vice president for research and executive director of the Innovation Gateway. “Collaborating with industry partners to translate discoveries from the lab and field into products that improve lives is central to UGA’s land-grant mission, and these results show our commercialization program continues to deliver.”

AUTM conducts an annual survey of intellectual property licensing and startup activity at universities and research institutions, then compiles the results into a report ranking participating institutions across a range of technology-transfer categories.

Innovation Gateway, UGA’s hub for technology transfer and startup support, works closely with faculty across campus to protect intellectual property, license technologies to industry and launch new startup companies.

The 58 products released include a sustainable textile dyeing technology developed by Suraj Sharma, professor in polymer, fiber and textile sciences, and Sergiy Minko, Georgia Power professor of fiber and polymer sciences in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Using nanocellulose hydrogel and coating technologies, this novel dyeing process requires significantly less water and energy than current methods. This technology has been licensed to local company Genesis AdvanceTech Engineering LLC.

Qingguo “Jack” Huang, professor in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has fully developed to commercial scale a technology that uses specially designed electrodes to break apart the tough chemical bonds in PFAS, polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances known as “forever chemicals,” destroying them instead of just filtering them out. The patented technology has been licensed to global engineering firm AECOM as the basis for its DE-FLUORO system, which removes PFAS residue from wastewater generated from manufacturing products like Gore-Tex and Teflon and offers a more practical, cost-effective alternative to traditional extraction-based treatments.

Other products released showcase the breadth of UGA research: new autogenous poultry vaccines, a new research tool for detecting specific N-glycan core structures from UGA startup Lectenz Bio and numerous new plant varieties.

TifNV-HG is a peanut cultivar that was jointly released between UGA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is a high-yielding, high-oleic cultivar with an improved peanut root-knot nematode resistance, one of the most destructive pests for peanut crops. It is a large seeded, medium maturing cultivar with excellent resistance to tomato spotted wilt virus. Total acreage grew dramatically from just 450 acres in 2023 to 5,500 acres in 2024, and it logged the single highest expansion rate in the state heading into the 2025-26 planting seasons, totaling almost 21,000 certified seed acres.

Beyond new products, UGA posted strong results across several other key AUTM metrics in FY25:

• No. 5 among U.S. universities for number of active licenses with industry, marking 19 consecutive years in the top 10.
• No. 17 among U.S. universities for licensing revenue, marking 22 consecutive years in the top 40. UGA generated $19.2 million in licensing revenue in FY25, a jump from No. 28 in 2024. Among public universities alone, UGA ranked No. 7 and has placed in the top 20 nationally among public universities for 22 consecutive years, up from No. 12 in 2024.
• No. 20 among U.S. universities for deal flow, the number of licenses and options executed with industry, marking 19 consecutive years in the top 20. UGA executed 110 licenses and options in 2025.
• No. 20 among U.S. universities for the number of active startup companies, marking 23 consecutive years in the top 30. Among public universities, UGA ranked No. 8, up from No. 12 in 2024.

While not official AUTM rankings, two internally calculated metrics also reflect well on UGA: The university ranks No. 14 nationally (No. 7 among public universities) for licensing revenue as a percentage of research expenditures and No. 16 nationally (No. 7 among public universities) for “net licensing revenue” — licensing revenue minus patent and legal expenses — showing efficient use of UGA’s patent budget. UGA also outperforms the average of its AUTM peer group of 36 universities with $500 million to $1 billion in research expenditures across nearly every major metric, including new product disclosures, licensing income and startups formed relative to research spending.

“These rankings reflect the talent and hard work of our faculty, staff and students, as well as the strength of the partnerships Innovation Gateway has forged with industry,” said Chris King, interim vice president for research. “We’re proud to support an innovation ecosystem that continues to translate UGA research into solutions that make a difference for the people of Georgia and far beyond.”