Cheryl Horst has been announced as the new executive director of NUtech Ventures, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s tech transfer organization, after roughly a year and a half of serving as the interim executive director. 

Horst has over 15 years of experience working on tech transfer at UNL. Previously, she was NUtech Ventures’ associate director and counsel for intellectual property.

“(Horst) has demonstrated strong, successful and responsible leadership during her interim role,” said Jennifer Nelson, UNL’s interim vice chancellor for research and innovation, in a press release. 

“I am excited for how she will continue to lead the NUtech team in building relationships and programs that expand opportunities for UNL faculty and other innovators, while driving economic growth in Nebraska and throughout the region.”

Horst takes the reins at NUtech Ventures during a time of deep uncertainty for research funding and the pipeline for translating research into commercial use. Federal funding, long a cornerstone of university innovation, is no longer reliable. And UNL has its own budget issues, in part because of reduced state support.

That has pushed the NU System to engage more with industry and lean into entrepreneurship. Horst plans to continue those efforts — in early 2025, NUtech Ventures launched an express licensing option for startups, with more initiatives on the way.

“One of the biggest priorities for me is to ensure that our researchers … have the support they need in the event that they want to become more focused on impact-based research or entrepreneurship,” she said.

As executive director, Horst aims to make it easier for industry to build relationships with and license innovation from UNL researchers. Under her leadership, NUtech Ventures is also applying to new sources of funding. 

That includes a National Science Foundation grant that supports tech transfer and being part of a regional Iowa-Nebraska initiative applying to be an NSF Innovation Engine to boost biomanufacturing.

“As opportunities seem to diminish, in some ways, there’s always other opportunities that arise,” Horst said. “So we’re just trying to be nimble and adaptable and look for alternative ways of funding the activities that are really critical in tech transfer.”

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