Northwestern University Teams Up with Material Impact to Boost Technology Commercialization

Northwestern University’s Querrey InQbation Lab (The Q) has entered a new partnership with Material Impact, a Boston-based venture firm focused on innovations in materials science and deep tech, the University announced today.

Launched in 2021 with funding from the State of Illinois and a generous gift from Northwestern Trustee Kimberly Querrey, The Q serves as the University’s hub for research-driven entrepreneurship, providing both space, wide-ranging programming and resources to translate Northwestern’s research and development to the public.

Material Impact, renowned for its focus on solving large-scale challenges through cutting-edge innovations in materials science, is well aligned with Northwestern’s strengths in scientific and engineering fields. According to Clarivate™, a leading business and market intelligence firm, Northwestern represents the most highly cited faculty members in materials science and chemistry of any university in the United States.

“We are excited about the potential within Northwestern’s research portfolio to address some of society’s most pressing challenges,” said Carmichael Roberts, co-founder and managing partner of Material Impact. “We have already invested in two Northwestern startups, Mattiq and Nanograf, as well as Foundation Alloy, a venture emerging from the work of Northwestern’s dean of the McCormick School of Engineering. We eagerly anticipate collaborating to unlock new opportunities from this exceptional pipeline.”

As a part of the collaboration, members from Materials Impact will join industrial advisory committees, mentor Q-embedded entrepreneurial residents from the Kellogg School of Management and advise Q Entrepreneurial Fellows on various projects. They also will provide practical advice for turning academic innovations into successful startup companies.

Initially, Material Impact will focus on the Trienens-Q Cleantech Accelerator, a collaboration between The Q and Northwestern’s Paula M. Trienens Institute of Sustainability and Energy. With an integrated array of translational resources, the Accelerator advances breakthroughs in decarbonization, renewable energy and sustainability — bringing them out of the lab and into the market.

“Integrating Material Impact into the Trienens-Q Cleantech Accelerator amplifies our strategy of channeling the right resources at the right time to our most promising technologies,” said Ted Sargent, the executive director of the Trienens Institute and the Lynn Hopton Davis and Greg Davis Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. “Material Impact’s vision, market insights and extensive experience in company building will be instrumental in advancing our discoveries into impactful solutions.”

This partnership will kick off this fall, with Ben Schlatka, partner at Material Impact, serving as a Q Executive-in-Residence at Northwestern. He will immerse himself in Northwestern’s innovation ecosystem working with faculty, students, startups and entrepreneurs.

“At Material Impact, we are passionate about translating cutting-edge technologies into real-world solutions, and partnering with The Q offers an incredible opportunity to guide this process,” Schlatka said. “I’m excited to collaborate with the Northwestern team to provide insights on the practical steps and best practices that turn academic lab innovations into successful startup ventures. This partnership reflects our commitment to nurturing the next generation of innovators and helping them transform their important work into valuable business.”