UNC‑Chapel Hill and Duke Drive Global University Innovation Programs

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Launch Chapel Hill International Accelerator supported 507 student entrepreneurs this summer, including Joel Tapper, founder of ARGOS Biosystems, which is developing a disposable vital‑sign patch for emergency rooms. Participants traveled to innovation hubs in Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to pitch ideas and build cross‑border collaborations.

Duke University announced the Future Universities Alliance, a new incubator linking 49 emerging and established institutions across 23 countries. The inaugural Innovation Sandbox cohort will meet in Durham and virtually to share challenges and develop solutions, with members ranging from Cambridge Spark in the United Kingdom to Africa Urban Lab in Tanzania and inVision U in Kazakhstan.