UNeMed’s Innovation Week is back this year, running Oct. 20-25. A variety of events will celebrate the research coming out of the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

“We’re thinking about, ‘How can we recognize the inventors, the people who have developed new ideas … and found better ways to solve some health care issues, or just issues in general, and recognize them for all that work,” said Charlie Litton, UNeMed’s marketing and communications manager.

UNeMed is the tech transfer organization for UNMC and UNO, helping academics at those institutions commercialize research. Innovation Week will include several events specifically for the UNMC and UNO academic community, but a highlight will be a startup showcase open to the public focused on health care innovation. The showcase will be from 4-6 p.m. at Catalyst on Oct. 23.

On Oct. 22, UNeMed will present its annual Research Innovation Awards. Award categories will include “emerging inventor,” “faculty entrepreneur” and “most promising new invention of 2025.” Academics, staff and students who received a patent, had their work licensed or who worked on new inventions will also be honored.

This year’s Innovation Week comes with a new sense of importance for telling the story of innovation in the University of Nebraska System. Federal and state funding cuts have led to a contraction in the system and worries about the future of research in Nebraska.

“If the people outside our walls could see what (UNMC and UNO researchers are) doing, I think they would be full throated behind us,” Litton said. “We’re just trying to get these men and women the recognition they deserve so they can get the support that they also deserve.”

Celebrating the talent and hard work of Nebraska’s academics also highlights what the state could lose if those researchers see opportunity elsewhere. 

“If we don’t start putting money where our mouth is, we might lose some talent,” Litton said. ”A researcher just wants to research, and if they get the money to do it, they’re going to do it. And is that going to be here, or is it going to be somewhere else? That’s the question we need to ask.”

Lev Gringauz is a Report for America corps member who writes about corporate innovation and workforce development for Silicon Prairie News.